Carlsen Wins Norway Chess

Magnus Carlsen has won the 2019 Altibox Norway Chess Tournament with one round and three tournament points to spare. Yu Yangyi and Levon Aronian shared equal second/third place, while Americans Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So finished in shared fourth/fifth.

Carlsen had wrapped up his tournament victory on Thursday, taking an insurmountable lead after beating Yu Yangyi in their classical game. This left Friday’s pairing with Caruana as something of a “dead rubber” match, although Caruana could have leapfrogged Carlsen in the classical standings with a win. He almost pulled it off.

[pgn] [Event "7th Norway Chess 2019"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2019.06.14"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] [WhiteElo "2819"] [BlackElo "2875"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "2019.06.04"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 {A position very well known to theory. But now both players leave the beaten path.} e5 7. O-O Qc7 8. a3 Nf6 9. Be3 {New. (Probably!)} (9. b4 cxb4 10. axb4 {1-0 (68) Mrdja,M (2368)-Sgnaolin,D (2118) Robecchetto 2002}) 9... c4 10. Nc3 cxd3 11. Qxd3 O-O 12. Rfd1 Re8 13. Bc5 Bf8 14. Bxf8 Kxf8 15. Rd2 Be6 16. Rad1 Rad8 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Rxd8+ Kg7 19. R8d3 h6 20. b4 a5 21. Re3 Nd7 22. Na4 b5 23. Nb2 c5 24. c3 c4 25. Rd2 axb4 26. axb4 Nf6 27. Nd1 Bd7 28. Nh2 Qa7 29. h4 Bc6 30. f3 Bd7 31. Nf1 Be6 32. Kh2 Nh5 33. g3 g5 34. hxg5 hxg5 35. Nf2 g4 36. Nxg4 Bxg4 37. fxg4 Nf6 38. Kg2 Nxg4 39. Rf3 Qa8 40. Re2 Kg6 41. Rf5 f6 42. Nh2 Nh6 43. Rf1 Kg7 44. Rd1 Qa3 45. Rd7+ Kg6 46. Nf3 Qxc3 47. Nh4+ Kh5 48. Rh7 Qd3 49. Re1 c3 $2 {An uncharacteristic slip.} 50. Nf3 $2 (50. Nf5 $1 $18 {threatens Rh1+ followed by mate, and Black has no good response.}) 50... Qc2+ 51. Kh3 Kg6 52. Rc7 Nf7 53. Nh4+ Kg7 54. Nf5+ Kg6 55. Nh4+ Kg7 56. Nf5+ 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

This left the Armageddon round, which had been Carlsen’s key hunting ground in this tournament. But Caruana rose to the occasion and defeated the World Champion, inflicting his first Armageddon loss of the event.

[pgn] [Event "7th Norway Armageddon"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2019.06.14"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2819"] [BlackElo "2875"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2019.06.04"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. e5 Nxb5 6. Nxb5 Nd5 7. Ng5 f6 8. Ne4 f5 9. Nbc3 Nxc3 10. Nxc3 d6 11. O-O dxe5 12. Qe2 e6 13. Qxe5 Qd6 14. Qe2 Be7 15. b3 O-O 16. Bb2 Bd7 17. Rae1 Rae8 18. Nd1 Bf6 19. Bxf6 Rxf6 20. Nb2 Rh6 21. Qe5 Qxe5 22. Rxe5 b6 23. a4 Bc6 24. a5 Rd8 25. axb6 axb6 26. d3 Rd5 27. Nc4 Bb5 28. Rxd5 exd5 29. Ne3 d4 30. Nxf5 Re6 31. Ra1 Kf7 32. f3 Kf6 33. Ng3 Re7 34. Ne4+ Ke6 35. Ra8 Bc6 36. Ra6 Bxe4 37. Rxb6+ Bc6 38. Rxc6+ Kd5 39. Ra6 Re2 40. Ra2 Kc6 41. h4 h5 42. Kh2 Kb6 43. Kg3 Rd2 44. f4 g6 45. Kf3 Kb7 46. b4 c4 47. dxc4 d3 48. Ke3 Rxg2 49. Kxd3 Rg4 50. Ra5 Rxf4 51. Rg5 Rxh4 52. Rxg6 Rh1 1-0 [/pgn]

This loss not withstanding, Carlsen’s victory in Stavanger had everything to do with his prowess in the Armageddon format. If we compare the Classical time control crosstable with the complete table above, we see how prominently the Armageddon games influenced the final standings. Ding Liren tied for first in the Classical format, for example, but finished in sixth place overall due to his Armageddon losses. The reverse was true for his countryman Yu Yangyi, who tied for second overall, but was only mid-table in the Classical standings.

Wesley So wrapped up his time in Norway with an Armageddon win over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. After a sixty move Classical draw, he fought back from a worse position to win with White in the Armageddon tie-breaker.

[pgn] [Event "7th Norway Armageddon"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2019.06.14"] [Round "9.3"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E60"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2779"] [PlyCount "89"] [EventDate "2019.06.04"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. Nc3 Bf5 7. O-O a5 8. Nd2 e5 9. d5 Na6 10. e4 Bd7 11. a3 Nc5 12. b3 c6 13. Rb1 cxd5 14. cxd5 Qc7 15. Re1 Rfc8 16. f3 Bh6 17. Kh1 a4 18. b4 Bxd2 19. Bxd2 Nb3 20. Bg5 Nh5 21. Na2 Qc2 22. Qxc2 Rxc2 23. Nc1 f6 24. Nxb3 fxg5 25. Na5 Nf4 26. Bf1 Rac8 27. Nxb7 R8c3 28. Nxd6 Rxa3 29. b5 Rb3 30. b6 Rcb2 31. Rxb2 Rxb2 32. b7 Rb6 33. g3 Nh3 34. Rc1 Kf8 35. Rc8+ Ke7 36. b8=Q Rxb8 37. Rxb8 Kxd6 38. Rd8 Kc7 39. Rxd7+ Kxd7 40. Bxh3+ g4 41. Bf1 a3 42. Bc4 gxf3 43. Kg1 g5 44. g4 Kd6 45. Kf2 1-0 [/pgn]