Rivals Old & New

John B. Henderson • Jan 20, 2023

This week, rivals old and new inflicted on Magnus Carlsen the rarity - in classical chess at least - of a brace of successive defeats for the World Champion at the first major of the year, the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. In round 4, the eight-time defending Wijk champion was outwitted by old foe Anish Giri, and then in the next round he was outplayed by Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the 18-year-old rapidly rising new star of the game.


Remarkably for Giri, who has a long rivalry with Carlsen - both on the board and sparring on social media - his only other win over the 32-year-old world No1 came not only came in the same tournament, but also on the same fateful day as the anniversary of Bobby Fischer’s death, separated by a period of 12 years, dating back to Wijk Ann Zee, January 17 2011!

In reality, Carlsen looked as if he was a little caught by surprise with the Dutch No1’s opening choice, and opted with black to steer the game into more familiar territory of a game the Norwegian himself had won with white in the past. But Giri mproved over Carlsen’s own play, and in a complex position, the Norwegian made a fatal error from which there was simply no recovery from. 


A somewhat wry Carlsen commented in defeat: “All in all, Giri played well. The worst thing is that I didn’t feel unwell today, so I have no excuses. It was just a risky choice and something I overlooked that he exploited. It’s not too much of a crisis. I just have to pull myself together, play well and there’s still a long way to go. But obviously, today was not good.”


And if “today” wasn’t good enough for Carlsen, then two days later - following the rest day - it only got worse for as he faced newer Gen Z rival Abdusattorov. In 2021, the Uzbek young gun first made a name for himself by beating Carlsen en route to claiming victory in the World Rapid Championship, and last year he also led his young national team to a famous Olympiad gold.


This year could see Abdusattorov making a big statement performance with his first super-tournament victory and, with it, a seismic leap into the World Top-10 to rival Alireza Firouzja as the young pretender to Carlsen’s crown. And with a touch of panache not to mention a steely nerve, a confidant Abdusattorov outplayed Carlsen in their first classical encounter to dramatically break into the top 20 and take the sole lead in the 85th Tata Steel Masters.


Carlsen back-to-back classical loses are few and far between, with his last being at Stavanger 2015. This double defeat - especially the loss to Abdusattorov - though could well be a true reflection on Carlsen own decision to abdicate his world classical crown in 2023, recognising that many younger talents are on the cusp of an epic breakthrough to challenge his dominance.


Standings:

1. N. Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 4½/6; 2-3. F. Caruana (USA), A. Giri (Netherlands) 4; 4-6. R. Praggnanandhaa (India), L. Aronian (USA), W. So (USA) 3½; 7-9. A. Erigaisi (India), Ding Liren (China) P. Maghsoodloo (Iran) 3; 10-11. R. Rapport (Romania), M. Carlsen (Norway) 2½; 12. J. Van Foreest (Netherlands) 2; 13-14. V. Keymer (Germany), D. Gukesh (India) 1½.


GM Anish Giri - GM Magnus Carlsen

Tata Steel Masters, (4)

Queen’s Indian Defence

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 First played in the 1920s by Aron Nimzowitsch, there is an almost strange "Hot Tub Time Machine" moment at this years Tata Steel Masters with this throwback to 1980s being played by Ding Liren in the opening round and now Magnus! 5.Qc2 The whole point of 4...Ba6 in the first place is to disrupt White's natural development by having to defend the c4-pawn. This is regarded as the best move for White, and once made, Black has retreat to the more natural b7 square. 5...Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.d5! With the queen having been diverted momentarily to c2, we have a dangerous pawn sacrifice packed with venom that is akin to the Polugavesky Gambit that was all the rage in the late 1970s and through the 80s. 7...exd5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 The only way to take on the gambit. If 8...Bxd5 9.Nc3 Bb7 10.e4 White has excellent compensation for the pawn with a firm grip of the center and e5 advances in the air. 9.0-0 Be7 10.Rd1 Nc6 A nice trick to get on with the job of developing pieces. Not recommend is 10...Nb4?! 11.Qf5! and suddenly it becomes difficult for Black to complete his development and get his king to safety. If 11...d5 (No better is 11...0-0 12.Nc3 and Black will have to careful about any potential Ng5! tricks.) 12.Nc3 Qd7 13.Qh5 0-0 14.a3 Nc2 15.Rb1 Nc6 16.Bf4 and the d5-pawn is set to fall. 11.Qf5 Nf6 12.e4 As has also been the case in the Polugaevsky Gambit, White has strong pressure and easy piece-play for the pawn. 12...d6 Apparently the more critical move here is 12...g6 - but as will soon explain, this is more familiar territory for Carlsen, albeit with a twist. 13.e5 Qd7! The only logical follow-up to Black's previous move. 14.Qxd7+ Nxd7 15.exd6 Bf6 16.Re1+ Kf8 17.Nc3 Nb4 All of this isn't exactly new territory for Carlsen, after all he had this position against Yannick Pelletier at Biel in 2008 and he managed to win - only trouble is, in that game, Magnus was White and had much the easier of it! 18.Ne5 Giri diverges from the aforementioned Carlsen-Pelletier game from 2008, where Magnus opted for 18.Bg5 Nc2! 19.Re7!? Bxf3?! (The critical move was 19...Bxe7 ) 20.Bxf3 Bxg5 21.Rxd7 Rd8 22.Rxd8+ Bxd8 23.Rd1 and he managed to somehow - as only Magnus can - squeeze a win out of what should have been a draw. But with the better 18.Ne5, Giri has the more controlled "chaos theory" working for him. 18...Nxe5 19.Bxb7 Rd8 20.Rd1 Nc4 21.d7 Amazingly this is all theory, but the bishop-pair and the d-pawn makes for a potential minefield if Black is not careful...and, alas, Magnus contrives to step on one! 21...Nc2?! Correct was 21...Ke7! 22.Bc8 and now 22...Nc2 23.Rb1 Nd6 24.Nd5+ Ke6 25.Nxf6 gxf6 26.Ba6 Rxd7 27.Bf4 Ke7 28.Rbc1 Nd4 29.b4 Rhd8 30.bxc5 bxc5 31.Bd3 Ne6 which ended in a draw in Verhaeren,G-Jørgensen,P ICCF email 2016. But what we see now is something more complex, with White retaining the bishop-pair and a dangerous initiative for the sacrificed d7-pawn. 22.Rb1 Nd4? One mistake follows another, and soon Carlsen is on the morphine drip. The last try to stay competitive in this complex position was 22...Ne5! 23.Bf4 (Also possible was 23.Nb5 Ke7 24.Bf4 Rxd7 and Black has liquidated the danger.) 23...Rxd7 24.Bxe5 Rxb7 25.Ne4 Ke7 26.Nxf6 gxf6 27.Bc3 Re8 where White still has the edge, though with the extra pawn Black should easily equalise here. 23.b4! [see diagram] Giri ripping the game open means big trouble now for Carlsen. 23...Rxd7? This is a blunder from Carlsen, though the sort of blunder you can understand with that big d-pawn being so far up the board. But it is a blunder nevertheless, and one that Giri capitalises on with a series of nice probing moves that further opens the game up for his bishops to wreck havoc. Instead, after 23...Be7 24.Bc8 Ne5 25.bxc5 bxc5 26.Nb5 Nxd7 27.Bxd7 Rxd7 28.Nxd4 cxd4 29.Be3! f6 30.Rxd4 Rxd4 31.Bxd4 Kf7 the game is still "salvageable" for Black; but not the sort of position anyone - including Carlsen - would like to defend. 24.Bd5 Nicely complicating things further for Carlsen, and with it, suddenly Giri found himself with a position where it was practically impossible for him not to win against the World Champion! 24...Nd6 25.bxc5 bxc5 26.Ba3 Ke7 All of Carlsen's moves are forced - he has no say in the matter. But equally, Giri has to show he's determined to strike with force and conviction, which the Dutchman does. 27.Bxc5 Ne6 28.Bb4 Giri is winning, no two ways about it - but the engine finds the more clinical route with the tactical 28.Bc6! Bxc3 29.Bxd6+! Rxd6 30.Rb7+ Nc7 31.Rxc7+ Kd8 32.Rd7+! Rxd7 33.Rxd7+ Kc8 34.Rxa7 Rd8 35.Rxf7 Rd2 36.a4 and, in the long-run, Black will be powerless sans two pawns and the a-pawn now running up the board. 28...a5 29.Bxa5 Rc8 30.Na4! With one timely move, Giri lays ruin to the age-old adage of a knight on the rim being dim! 30...Nc4 31.Rbc1 Be5?? Under extreme pressure and hanging on by his fingertips, Carlsen cracks with a blunder that loses on-the-spot. As bad as his position is, his only hope of any sort of survival chances lay with 31...Kf8 32.Nc5! Nxc5 (32...Rxc5 33.Bb4 Nb2 34.Bxe6 Rxd1+ 35.Rxd1 Nxd1 36.Bxc5+ Be7 37.Bxe7+ Kxe7 38.Bb3 and White easily wins the endgame.) 33.Rxc4 Bd8 34.Bc3 Be7 35.Bf3 Rxd1+ 36.Bxd1 Rd8 37.Bc2 Nd7 and you pray for a miracle of epic biblical proportions. 32.Bb4+ Kf6 33.Nc5! The end is nigh, as the dystopian street-waving placard holders would say. 33...Nxc5 34.Rxc4 Rdc7 35.Ba5 1-0

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • 02 Oct, 2023
Well, well, well. After rampaging his way through many of the finals and opponents throughout the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, Magnus Carlsen’s “final boss” reign came to a screeching halt in what proved to be an enthralling AI Cup Grand Final on Friday, as the favourite was beaten not once but in three games, and over two matches, by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who sensationally grabbed the last remaining spot in the Champions Tour Final in December. Earlier, Carlsen had defeated MVL in the final of the winners’ bracket, before the Frenchman gained the right to a rematch in the double-elimination contest by beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the final of the losers’ bracket. In the Grand Final, buoyed up and firing on all cylinders, MVL beat Carlsen by a 2½-1½ score.

We'll Meet Again

By John B. Henderson • 29 Sep, 2023
The self-proclaimed “final boss of chess” does what the final boss of chess does best of all: Magnus Carlsen beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final of the AI Cup winners’ bracket, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season, to reach yet another Grand Final in the novel double-elimination contest. But it wasn’t without an epic bare-knuckle street fight from both players, as MVL proved to be a worthy opponent for what looked to be an unstoppable Carlsen, who narrowly prevailed in the Armageddon to take the match 3-2. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you play Sicilians in every game," said a magnanimous Carlsen in victory after four fighting Sicilians left the match tied at 2-2.

Tiers For Fears

By John B. Henderson • 27 Sep, 2023
Fans were treated to arguably the greatest online rivalry in chess history recently, with the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship Grand Final showdown between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura seeing the Norwegian narrowly snatch victory by a solitary win to end the American speed maven’s hopes of a sixth successive victory. But Carlsen’s narrow win left the salivating fans feeling they’d been denied seeing this epic gladiatorial speed contest going into overtime - but they didn’t have to wait long for the rivalry redux, as a couple of days later, both Carlsen and Nakamura went head-to-head yet again in the opening day of the AI Cup, the sixth and final leg of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour regular season.

Bossing It

By John B. Henderson • 25 Sep, 2023
Magnus Carlsen more than lived up to his self-proclamation of being “The Final Boss of Chess” with a revenge-is-sweet narrow victory over fellow chess influencer Hikaru Nakamura, as he denied his long-time arch-rival a sixth successive Chess.com Speed Chess Championship title last Friday. Last year, it was Nakamura who narrowly squeaked home by one point - this time, in yet another thrilling match consisting of three different speed limits - 5+1, 3+1 and 1+1 (more commonly known as ‘bullet’) - between the two speed titans, it again ended with the same scoreline, though this time seeing Carlsen triumph by a solitary win after two pulsating hours of thrilling play, as he took the $150,000 2023 Speed Chess Championship presented by Coinbase, 13.5-12.5.

Death, Taxes, Magnus & Hikaru

By John B. Henderson • 22 Sep, 2023
With a smorgasbord of online chess events out there now, the granddaddy of them all is surely the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship , with a $150,000 prize fund that determines just who is the best blitz and bullet players. It has become the perennial fan-favourite with arguably the best viewing experience - and the fans are set for yet another spectacular finale later today, as the two rivals who dominate the roll of honour, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, get set for another explosive showdown in the 2023 final. Friday’s final and commentary, free to view, starts at 14:00 ET (11:00 PT; 20:00 CEST; 23:30 IST) on Chess.com. Carlsen and Nakamura have won each edition since the inaugural Speed Chess Championship event in 2016 - Carlsen won the first two speed titles before taking a hiatus, only for Nakamura to rule the roost, winning four more times.

A Messi Kid

By John B. Henderson • 19 Sep, 2023
India today is a land of amazing young talents and prospects in chess, with the country seemingly having a never-ending production line of prodigies rolling off the factory conveyor belt. But for some countries, such as Argentina, prodigies only seem to come around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet . One of the first notable post-war chess prodigies was Oscar Panno from Buenos Aires, who became the first world-class player born in South America. In 1953, at the age of 17, he became only the second World Junior Champion , having won the coveted youth title ahead of a strong cadre of future elite-level Grandmasters such as Boris Ivkov (who in 1951 was crowned the first World Junior Ch), Bent Larsen, and Fredrik Olafsson.

The Great Rook 'n' Roll Swindle

By John B. Henderson • 14 Sep, 2023
“Chess is a cruel game. We all know that feeling when your position has gone awry and everything seems hopeless. You feel like resigning. But don’t give up! This is precisely the moment to switch to swindle mode. Master the art of provoking errors and you will be able to turn the tables and escape with a draw or sometimes even steal the full point!” So wrote David Smerdon, an Australian chess grandmaster and one of his country’s leading behavioural economists, on the back cover of his witty and wickedly entertaining, not to mention the much-lauded and deserving 2020 ECF Book of the Year winner, The Complete Chess Swindler (New in Chess).

No Country For Young Men

By John B. Henderson • 11 Sep, 2023
With the top teenage talents being overshadowed in the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid in Kolkata by a dominant performance from seasoned veteran Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, there were hopes of a homeland comeback in the follow-on Blitz tournament - and one looked to be on the cards, only for another “old guy”, this time Alexander Grischuk, crashing the teenage party by capturing the second, even faster speed title. Early doors, all eyes were firmly on Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa, with his flying start of a perfect 5/5 on the opening day of the two-day double-round contest. But that was as good as it got for the 18-year-old Candidate-qualifier, who could only finish the day on 6.5/9, and despite being the sole leader, he held what looked a very slender half-point lead over nearest rivals Santosh Vidit and Grischuk, ominously the only unbeaten player.

My Indian Summer

By John B. Henderson • 08 Sep, 2023
The past couple of years have proved to be a major one for India - not only a global player with world leaders descending this week in New Delhi for the G20 Summit and recently successfully landing a spacecraft on the moon but now also a fully-fledged chess superpower, with many exciting young talents set to make the country a dominant force for the foreseeable future. Many would even speculate that Indian Chess could well turn into a hegemony, in much the same way as the Soviets dominated the chess scene in the 1945 post-war period until its collapse and ultimate dissolution in 1991. The latest big chess tournament to be held in India coincides with the G20, with the fifth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz - a spinoff from the larger Dutch super-tournament, the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee - taking place 5-9 September in Kolkata.

Me & The Kids

By John B. Henderson • 04 Sep, 2023
The fifth and latest leg of the Champions Chess Tour , the Julius Baer Generations Cup more than lived up to its name with the world No.1, Magnus Carlsen, after overpowering Alireza Firouzja in the winners’ final, to effortlessly cruise his way into the Grand Final, declaring: “It’s just me against the kids now!” After three clean kills that included a brace of back-to-back 2½-½ victories over Iranian Amin Tabatabaei and his old title foe Caruana, Carlsen proceeded to sweep Firouzja 3-0 to reach the Grand Final of the contest - but it wasn’t lost on the “old man” that non of his old rivals were left in the competition, and that meant that Denis Lazavik (16), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (18), and Firouzja (20) were the only three left standing to see who would go forward to meet him in the Grand Final.
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