The Unstoppable Magnus Carlsen

When we last checked in with the Croatia stop of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, it looked like Ian Nepomniachtchi was off to the races, his full point lead over the field after three rounds a harbinger of success to come. But that’s why, as the saying goes, they play the games.

Magnus Carlsen has displayed indominatable fighting spirit as he has ascended the leaderboard, scoring +4 (6/8) after eight rounds of play to hold first place as today’s Round 9 is underway. Carlsen’s victories over Nepomniachtchi (Round 7) and Ding Liren (Round 8) are his first wins over both players in classical time controls, and he can achieve the highest recorded FIDE rating with 2.5 points in the final three rounds. Wesley So is hot on Carlsen’s heels, standing alone is second place with +3 (5.5/8). Fabiano Caruana is one of three players, along with Nepomniachtchi and Aronian, tied for third place a full point behind So. Hikaru Nakamura is enduring a rough event, and he is tied for last place with Mamedyarov heading into today’s Round 9. Here’s a recap of most recent three rounds. ROUND 6

After two drawish rounds – only one game was decisive in Rounds 4 and 5! – and with the rest day looming, there were fireworks galore in Round 6. Perhaps Caruana put it best when, asked by Maurice Ashley if he were surprised by all the fighting chess, he said that

It’s clear that everyone has been playing both very risky chess and enterprising chess and a lot of people are off form, so I’m not at all surprised that there are a lot of decisive results today.

So picked up the shortest win of the round with a neat positional pawn sacrifice.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.01"] [Round "6.3"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A15"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2774"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 e5 $5 {So spent some time deciding on a response, having seen the Dubov game in May.} 5. Nxe5 O-O 6. Nf3 Re8 7. Bd3 $5 {Prepared before the game.} (7. d3 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bd2 Bg4 10. Be2 (10. Qb3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Na6 12. Be2 Nc5 13. Qc2 Bxf3 14. gxf3 Qh4 {1/2-1/2 (36) Giri,A (2787)-Dubov,D (2690) Moscow 2019}) 10... Nb4 {"almost forced" (So)} 11. Be3 N8c6 12. a3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Na6) 7... Nxe4 (7... d5 8. cxd5 Bf5) 8. Bxe4 Bxc3 9. dxc3 Rxe4+ 10. Be3 d6 11. c5 d5 12. h3 ({was So's idea "from afar," but then he noticed} 12. Nd2 Bg4 13. Qb3 Rxe3+ 14. fxe3 Qh4+ 15. g3 Qg5) 12... b6 13. O-O Bb7 14. Re1 Nd7 15. Nd2 (15. b4 $5 Qf8 16. Rb1 {was considered, but So thought that Mamedyarov could just double his pawns.}) 15... Re8 16. Nb3 Qh4 17. Qd2 f6 18. f4 {"His queen was completely cut off from the game." (So)} Qh5 19. Bf2 g5 $6 (19... d4 {might have been better, admitting that Black is worse and hoping for a opposite-color bishop ending.}) 20. c6 $1 {Sac'ing the pawn to greatly improve the knight.} Bxc6 21. Nd4 Bb7 22. Nb5 Rxe1+ (22... Rac8 23. Nxa7 Ra8 24. Nb5 {"and White is still better."}) 23. Rxe1 Re8 24. Nxc7 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 d4 26. Qe7 $1 Qf7 (26... dxc3 27. Qxd7 cxb2 28. Qd8+ {leads to a forced mate that, as So notes, is not easy to see from afar without silicon assistance!}) 27. Qd8+ Nf8 28. Bxd4 gxf4 29. Ne8 Ne6 1-0 [/pgn]

Carlsen defeated Nakamura in a 5.Bf4 QGD after Nakamura lost the thread around move 21.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.01"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2875"] [BlackElo "2754"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Rd1 Qa5 12. Bd3 dxc4 13. Bxc4 h6 14. Bf4 { Getting a known position two tempi up (..Re8 and ..h6), but Carlsen wasn't clear how much the tempi helped.} Bd7 15. O-O Rac8 16. e4 e5 17. Be3 (17. Qb3 $5) 17... Nd4 {The expected followup to 16. ... e5.} 18. Bxd4 Rxc4 19. Bxe5 Ba4 20. b3 Nxe4 21. Rd3 (21. Qe2 Rxc3 22. bxa4 $14) 21... Rec8 {"I was shocked, because I thought it was just losing."} (21... Bf6) 22. Qb2 Nc5 ({Nakamura told Carlsen that after} 22... Bxb3 {he'd missed} 23. Nd5 $1) 23. Re3 Bxb3 24. Bxg7 Rg4 {"A nice try... I hadn't seen that, but I felt fairly confident that this line was going to win."} 25. Bxh6 Bf6 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27. Rxe5 Qb6 (27... Nd3 28. Rxa5 Nxb2 29. Nd5 $1) 28. Qd2 {"The position is just winning."} Rg6 29. Be3 Qc6 30. Nd5 Bxd5 31. Qxd5 (31. Rxd5 Ne4 32. Rd8+ $2 Kh7) 31... b6 32. g3 Nd7 33. Qxc6 Rgxc6 34. Rd5 Nf8 35. Rfd1 Ne6 36. a4 Rc4 37. a5 Rb4 38. Rd7 bxa5 39. Rxa7 a4 40. Rdd7 Nd8 41. Rd5 Ne6 42. Rda5 Rcc4 43. Kg2 1-0 [/pgn]

And Caruana claimed the full point in his game against Vachier-Lagrave, essaying a somewhat unfashionable line of the Neo-Arkhangel and winning in 37 moves.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.01"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2819"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "74"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Bb7 $5 9. d3 h6 10. axb5 (10. Re1 O-O 11. axb5 axb5 12. Rxa8 Bxa8 13. Nh4 Na5 14. Nf5 Nxb3 15. Qxb3 Bc6 16. Na3 Bd7 {1/2-1/2 (40) Vachier Lagrave,M (2779) -Anand,V (2767) Stavanger 2019}) 10... axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. Nh4 Bc8 (12... Ne7 13. Kh1 {with the idea of f2-f4}) 13. Na3 (13. Kh1 g5 14. Qf3 Ke7) 13... Bg4 14. Qc2 Qb8 15. Kh1 g5 16. Nf5 Bxf5 17. exf5 O-O 18. Qd1 Na5 19. Bxf7+ { Perhaps already a positional mistake, per Caruana.} Rxf7 20. b4 Bxb4 21. cxb4 Nc6 22. Nc2 Qc8 23. g4 Qa8 24. f3 Qa2 25. d4 Re7 26. dxe5 dxe5 27. Qd3 $6 (27. h4 $5) 27... e4 28. Qc3 Ne5 29. f4 Nd5 (29... gxf4 $5) 30. Qh3 Nf3 31. Ne1 Nxe1 32. Rxe1 e3 33. fxg5 hxg5 34. Qg2 ({If} 34. Qh6 {Caruana thought that} Qf2 $1 { was an important find, i.e.} 35. Qxg5+ (35. Qg6+ Kf8 36. Qh6+ Rg7 37. Qh8+ Kf7 $19) 35... Rg7 36. Qd8+ Kh7 $19) 34... Qc4 35. Qf3 Re4 36. h3 Rf4 37. Qg3 Rf1+ 0-1 [/pgn]

ROUND 7

There was perhaps a bit of a rest-day ‘hangover’ on Wednesday’s Round 7, with five of six games drawn, and four of them drawn fairly uncontroversially. But Carlsen took some risks in his game against Nepomniachtchi, defeating the Russian for the first time at classical time controls.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.03"] [Round "7.1"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2875"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Bc4 g6 5. d3 (5. h4 h6 6. h5 g5 7. Nh2 Nf6 8. d3 d6 9. Nf1 Bg4 10. f3 Be6 11. Ne3 Bg7 12. Ncd5 O-O {1/2-1/2 (37) Vachier Lagrave,M (2779)-Carlsen,M (2842) Saint Louis 2018}) 5... h6 6. h4 d6 7. h5 g5 8. Nh2 Bg7 9. Ng4 Nge7 10. Ne3 O-O 11. Bd2 Kh8 12. g4 Rb8 {Carlsen said after the game that the opening looks worse for Black than it is, and that there's also "something nice" about being positionally worse out of the opening, as "all the holes are already there" so you can avoid worry about concessions and instead go immediately for counterplay.} 13. a4 Nd4 14. Ncd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 Ne6 16. f3 Nf4 17. Qb1 Be6 18. Qa2 {Ambitious, "but the king lacks shelter."} Qd7 19. Rg1 b6 20. Bc3 Bxd5 21. Bxd5 a6 22. Bd2 Qe7 23. Rf1 b5 24. axb5 axb5 25. Kf2 c4 {Carlsen wasn't sure that the attack would work, but Nepo was short on time and he felt that he wasn't risking anything.} 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Rad1 f5 $5 {"A bit silly, since I hadn't calculated it properly."} 28. gxf5 $4 {"If I had done this with White, my first reaction would be that oh my god, I blunderded. " (Anand) "The bluff worked." (Carlsen)} ({Carlsen expected} 28. exf5 Bd4+ 29. Kg2 Qe2+ {but} 30. Kh3 {holds} (30. Kh1 Bf2 31. Qa1 $1 Bg3 $2 32. b4+)) 28... g4 $1 {Crushing.} 29. d4 Qh4+ 30. Ke2 Qh2+ 31. Rf2 gxf3+ 0-1 [/pgn]

On the surface the Karjakin-So game is just another elite GM draw, but a rare case of ‘chess blindness’ struck both players on move 20.

While So’s 20. … Bd6 is an outright blunder, Karjakin missed the killing 21.Rxf5!, and instead played 21.Re2 after which the game was soon drawn by repetition. Incredibly neither player seems to have recognized their errors until Maurice Ashley asked Karjakin about it in the post-game interview. https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/status/1146466107882135553

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.03"] [Round "7.2"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2748"] [BlackElo "2754"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. a4 Be7 7. Nc3 a6 8. Bf1 e4 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Rxe4 d5 11. Re1 d4 12. Bd3 O-O 13. Be4 Be6 14. d3 Bd5 15. Bf4 Bxe4 16. Rxe4 f5 17. Re2 g5 18. Bd2 g4 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. Rxe5 Bd6 $2 21. Re2 $2 (21. Rxf5 Rxf5 22. Qxg4+) 21... Qf6 22. c3 Rae8 23. g3 dxc3 24. Bxc3 Qf7 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Qd2 Qe6 27. Qg5+ Qg6 28. Qd2 Qe6 29. Qg5+ Qg6 30. Qd2 Qe6 1/2-1/2 [/pgn]

ROUND 8

The story of Round 8 is Carlsen’s impressive victory over Ding Liren, his first win over Ding at classical time controls, and featuring a unexploded opening landmine left over from the 2018  World Championship Match.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.04"] [Round "8"] [White "Ding Liren"] [Black "Carlsen, M."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E06"] [WhiteElo "2805"] [BlackElo "2875"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 b5 8. a4 b4 9. Nfd2 Nd5 $5 (9... c6 {is the standard move, played quite a bit recently by Nakamura:} 10. Nxc4 Qxd4 11. Rd1 Qc5 12. Be3 Qh5 13. Nbd2 Ng4 14. Nf3 Nxe3 15. Nxe3 a5 16. Nc4 (16. Nd4 Ba6 17. Rac1 Rc8 18. Bf3 Qg6 19. Be4 Qh5 20. Bf3 Qg6 {1-0 (54) Grischuk,A (2772)-Nakamura,H (2761) Moscow 2019}) 16... Ba6 17. Nfe5 Bxc4 18. Nxc4 Ra7 19. Rac1 Qc5 20. Qe4 Rc7 21. Ne5 Qa7 22. Nxc6 {1/2-1/2 (22) Ding,L (2805)-Nakamura,H (2761) Abidjan 2019}) 10. Nxc4 c5 {"One of the unused ideas from the (World Championship) match." (Carlsen)} 11. dxc5 Ba6 12. Ne3 Nd7 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. c6 Rc8 15. Bf4 Nc5 16. c7 Qd7 17. Nd2 g5 18. Be5 ({ The natural} 18. Bxg5 $2 {fails to} b3 $1 (18... Bxg5 $6 19. Qxc5 Bxd2 20. Rfd1 $11) 19. Qc3 Bxg5 20. Qxc5 Bxd2 21. Rfd1 Rxc7 $19) 18... f6 19. Bd4 Rxc7 { "Around here I wasn't really sure what to do, I mean, I thought that I should be ok with all my activity even though my king is a bit weak. But I wasn't sure how." (Carlsen)} 20. Qd1 Ne6 21. Nb3 Bc4 22. Na5 Nxd4 23. Qxd4 Kg7 24. Rfc1 $6 (24. Bf3 $5) 24... Bxe2 25. Rxc7 Qxc7 26. Re1 Bc5 27. Qxd5 Re8 $1 { An important move, per Carlsen.} 28. Qb7 (28. Qc6 {may be the only way to hold the draw, i.e.} Qxc6 29. Nxc6 Bh5 30. Rc1 {and Black can't save both the a7 and b4 pawns.}) 28... Qxb7 29. Nxb7 Bf8 30. Bc6 (30. Nd8 $1 {(Carlsen)}) 30... Re7 31. f3 Bc4 32. Rxe7+ Bxe7 33. Kf2 f5 34. Ke3 Bg8 35. Kd3 g4 36. Na5 Bc5 37. Nc4 Bg1 38. Ne3 Be6 39. fxg4 fxg4 40. Ke2 h5 41. Bd5 Bd7 42. Bb3 (42. b3 { would have been better, "but it would have been very difficult to hold it [White's position] in practice."}) 42... Bxh2 43. Kf2 h4 44. gxh4 Be5 45. Nc4 g3+ 46. Kg1 Bf4 47. Bd1 Bc6 48. b3 Kh6 49. a5 Be4 50. Kf1 Kg7 51. Kg1 Kf6 52. Kf1 Ke6 53. h5 Kd5 54. a6 Kd4 55. Bg4 Kc3 56. Be6 Bc2 57. Na5 Bc7 58. Nb7 Bd3+ 59. Kg1 Bxa6 0-1 [/pgn]

So defeated a clearly out-of-form Nakamura after Nakamura slipped in a tricky king and pawn ending.

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.04"] [Round "8"] [White "So, W."] [Black "Nakamura, Hi"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2754"] [BlackElo "2754"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 8. Nf3 d5 9. d4 O-O 10. Nc3 Nh4 11. Nxh4 Bxh4 12. Bb5 {A new move.} (12. Bf4 Bf5 13. Qd2 Bf6 14. Ne2 Qd7 15. c3 Rfe8 16. Ng3 Bg6 17. Bg5 Bxg5 18. Qxg5 f6 19. Qf4 Rxe1 20. Rxe1 Re8 21. Rxe8+ Bxe8 {1/2-1/2 (28) Anand,V (2773)-Nakamura,H (2746) Kolkata 2018}) (12. Ne2 Re8 13. c3 Bf6 14. Bf4 Ne7 15. Ng3 g6 16. Qf3 Bg7 17. Be5 Be6 18. Qf4 c6 19. Bd3 Qd7 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Qe5+ Kg8 22. Qg5 f6 23. Qxf6 {1-0 (38) Giri,A (2782)-Nakamura,H (2769) Leuven 2018}) 12... Ne7 13. Bd3 Bf6 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qf3 Bg7 16. Bg5 f6 17. Bd2 c6 18. Ne2 Nf5 19. g3 Nh6 20. c4 Bg4 21. Qg2 dxc4 22. Bxc4+ Kh8 23. d5 Nf7 24. Nf4 Ne5 25. Be2 Bd7 26. Rad1 cxd5 27. Bc3 Bc6 28. Nxd5 f5 29. f4 Nd7 30. Bxg7+ Kxg7 31. Bf3 Nf6 32. Nxf6 Qxf6 33. Bxc6 bxc6 34. Rd7+ Rf7 35. Qd2 Rxd7 36. Qxd7+ Kf8 37. Re5 Rd8 38. Qxh7 Re8 39. Qh6+ Kf7 40. Qh7+ Kf8 41. Qc7 Rxe5 42. Qxe5 Qxe5 43. fxe5 Kf7 44. h4 Ke6 45. Kf2 Kxe5 46. Kf3 c5 47. b3 Ke6 (47... a6 {is the only move that draws} 48. Ke3 a5 49. Kd3 f4 50. gxf4+ Kxf4 51. Kc4 Kg4 52. Kxc5 Kxh4 53. b4 {and the mutual pawn race will end up being drawn after both sides queen.}) 48. Kf4 Kf6 49. a3 a6 50. b4 c4 51. a4 Ke6 52. Ke3 Kd5 53. Kd2 Kd4 54. Kc2 c3 55. b5 1-0 [/pgn]

Anish Giri found a tricky tactic to grab a win against Mamedyarov, delighting Yasser Seirawan and the Saint Louis crew immensely. https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/status/1146840152821698560

[pgn] [Event "Croatia GCT 2019"] [Site "Zagreb CRO"] [Date "2019.07.04"] [Round "8"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Mamedyarov, S."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [WhiteElo "2779"] [BlackElo "2774"] [Annotator "Hartmann,John"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "6r1/1p1k2pp/p1Rbr1b1/8/6P1/P3BQ1P/1q3PB1/4R1K1 w - - 0 25"] [PlyCount "13"] [EventDate "2019.06.26"] 25. Rxa6 $1 Rb8 (25... bxa6 $2 26. Qc6+ Ke7 27. Bg5+ {and Black has to give up the queen to avoid mate.}) 26. Ra7 (26. Rxd6+ $1 Rxd6 27. Rd1 $18) 26... Be4 27. Qf7+ Re7 28. Qc4 Rc8 29. Qa4+ Bc6 30. Bxc6+ Rxc6 31. Rc1 $1 (31. Rc1 Kd8 32. Qa5+ Kd7 33. Qf5+ Kc7 34. Rb1 $18) 1-0 [/pgn]

Caruana held the worse side of a rook and knight versus rook ending against Anand, while both Aronian-Nepomniachtchi and MVL-Karjakin were drawn.

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The Croatia Grand Chess Tour will be contested from June 26th-July 8th, with rounds played at 4:30 local time / 10:30 EDT. There is one rest day on July 2nd. Live round-by-round streaming coverage is available on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel: English language: GMs Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley, and IM Jovanka Houska. Russian language: GMs Evegnij Mironhnichenko and Melik Khachiyan.