The Last Dance?

John B. Henderson • Apr 04, 2023

Ahead of next week’s World Championship Match between Ian Nepomniactchi and Ding Liren, the Chessable Masters, the second-leg of the new and lucrative $2m Champions Chess Tour kicked off on Monday and is seen by many to be Magnus Carlsen’s “Last Dance” - the term used for basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s final season and subsequent hit Netflix documentary of the same name. 


But Carlsen’s final appearance while still holding the classical crown saw the Norwegian top seed and defending Tour champion stumble badly on the dance floor, as he suffered a big surprise defeat at the hands of the tricky young Russian - playing under the neutral FIDE flag - Vladislav Artemiev.

It was an “awful day of chess” bemoaned Carlsen after his shock defeat by Artemiev, with the tone being set by an uncharacteristic blunder in the opening game that ran through the match. All the games proved to be decisive, though Carlsen looked to be set for a straight defeat before Artiemev blundered badly in the final game to allow him back into the match. 


With Carlsen hitting back to tie the match at 2-2 to take it to a playoff, the chatter among the pundits and talking heads was their utter disbelief at watching Carlsen lose both his games with the White pieces. But despite clawing his way back into the match, Carlsen throw it all away again by returning the blunder in the Armageddon that allowed Artemiev to snatch a sensational 3-2 victory. 


But Artiemev doesn’t enter the annals as Carlsen's final partner on his dance card. There’s a second chance for Carlsen to return to the fray via the Losers bracket on Tuesday, where he now needs to beat Liem Le or find himself being dumped out of the tournament. 


“This was a really, really awful day of chess,” commented a self-critical Carlsen in defeat. “I did everything to lose - and then some. Obviously, it takes a strong opponent to exploit that, but that was really poor so we’ll see. I will do my best tomorrow [against Le], but this is unacceptable.”


Day 2 of the Chessable Masters 2023 will be broadcast live on Chess.com. Commentary and analysis will be provided from the Champions Chess Tour studio in Oslo, Carlsen's home country, with a panel of expert talking heads led by GM David Howell, FM James Canty III, GM Robert Hess and IM Tania Sachdev.


Fans can also follow the tournament on Chess.com’s website and social media channels.

GM Magnus Carlsen - GM Vladislav Artemiev

Chessable Masters Div 1 Winners, (1.1)

QGD Slav, Soultanbeieff variation

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 The Soultabbeieff variation, named not after a misconceived culinary dish but rather the Ukraine-born master Victor Ivanovich Soultanbeieff, who left his homeland for Belgium after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1920. He became a multi-time Belgium champion and left his name to this simplyfying line of the Slav after he championed it during a 1931-32 correspondence game with Aleksandras Macht.

6.e3 c5 This was more modern variation that revived the Soultanbeieff variation. It looks to liquidate the pawn centre and seek a multiple exchange of pieces to ease Black's game. 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.O-O O-O 10.Qe2 Nbd7 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.Nf3 b6 13.e4 The correct and best move, as White must take the initiative in the centre, otherwise Black has easy equality.13...Bb7 14.e5?! Typically for Carlsen, in trying to prevent Artemiev from playing the thematic ...Ng4-e5 Slav manouver, he pushes the envelope just a bit too far, and the ensuing complications and pawn sacrifice just plays into Black's hands. 14...Ng4 15.Bg5 f6!? This pawn sacrifice offers Artemiev excellent compensation as his pieces become very active. 16.exf6 Ndxf6 17.Qxe6+ (The alternative was 17.Bxe6+ Kh8 18.Rd7 Bxf3! (The best move - it is not recommended, but if you want to take a Lou Reed-like walk on the wild side, then there is 18...Qxd7!? 19.Bxd7 Bxf2+ 20.Kh1 Nxd7 21.Qe6! Ngf6 22.b4! and suddenly Black has major problems with his dark-squared bishop being somewhat embarrassed for escape squares.) 19.gxf3 Bxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qc5 21.Bxg4 Qxg5 22.Qxf2 Nxd7 (Not 22...Nxg4?? 23.Qg2! and Black will soon find himself sans a piece.) 23.Bxd7 Rad8 24.Rd1 and while White has the material advantage, it is not so easy to make anything of it, due to Black's well-placed 'heavy furniture' of queen and two rooks. 17...Qxe6 18.Bxe6+ Kh8 19.Rd2 For Carlsen to try to take anything from this game, he had to try 19.Bxf6! Nxf6 20.Ng5 but after 20...Bxf2+! 21.Kxf2 Ne4+ 22.Kg1 Nxg5 the game is heading for a draw. But in trying to avoid such easy equalising lines, Carlsen only compromises his position. 19...Bxf3 20.gxf3 Ne5 All the tactics are working in Black's favour; plus with White's crippled kingside pawns, the extra pawn means nothing here. 21.Kg2 Rae8 22.Bf5 It all starts to go horribly wrong here for Carlsen - he had to accept that the position was now equal, and allow 22.Bxf6 Rxf6 23.Bd5 Ref8 24.Rad1 Rg6+ 25.Kf1(Slightly worse is 25.Kh1 Nxf3 26.Bxf3 Rxf3 27.Rd8+ Bf8 28.Ne4 h6 and White's king cut-off on h1 is going to be a handicap heading into the endgame.) 25...Rh6 26.Kg2 Rg6+ 27.Kf1 Rh6 28.Kg2 and a repetition. 22...Nh5 The immediate solution was 22...Nxf3! 23.Kxf3 Re5 24.Bxf6 Rxf5+ 25.Kg2 R5xf6 26.Ne4 Rg6+ 27.Kh1 Be7 and Black has slightly the better of it with the active rooks, bishop, and the White king again cut-off on h1. 23.Bg4 Nf6 24.Bh3? (see diagram) Carlsen is not so much pushing the envelope anymore, it's more like he's pushing a whole postie's sack full of mail now! He has the bishop-pair and an extra pawn, so tries to see what he can do with it - but the position is a tactical minefield and he's just stepped on mine. He had to accept the realities here and play 24.Re1 Nxf3! 25.Rxe8 Nxd2 26.Rxf8+ Bxf8 27.Bf5 Nb3 28.Bf4 with a position he can relentlessly grind away at. 24...Nxf3! The correct technical name for this move, I believe, is "Splat"! 25.Kxf3 Ne4+ 26.Kg4 It may well be that after Artemiev played 24...Nxf3, Carlsen suddenly realised he couldn't play 26.Kg2?? as Nxd2! 27.Bxd2 Rxf2+ 28.Kh1 Rxd2 is easily winning. 26...Nxd2 27.Bxd2 Rxf2

The reality of the situation is that Artemiev's pieces are so active while Carlsen's pieces are so awkwardly-placed. 28.Rd1 h5+?! The accurate move was 28...Bd6! 29.Bc1 Bxh2 30.Rd7 h6 and Black clearly has the better of it. 29.Kxh5 Rd8 30.Be1 Rxd1 31.Bxf2 Rd2 32.Bxc5?! A little hard to see admittedly, but the best move the engine soon finds was 32.Bg3! Bg1(Not 32...Rxb2? 33.Kg6! and suddenly White is in charge, with the game continuing something like 33...Rb4 34.Bd7 Rd4 35.Bf5 Rc4 36.Nb5! Be7 otherwise Be5 is crushing 37.Kf7 Bf6 38.Nxa7 Rxa4 39.Nb5 Ra2 40.Ke6 and White's active pieces offers the best winning chances.) 33.Bb8 Rxb2 34.Bg4 Bxh2 35.Bxa7 Rb4 36.Be2 Be5 37.Nd5 Rxa4 38.Bxb6 and the game will soon peter out to a draw. 32...bxc5 The two pawns on h2 and b2 dropping in quick succession soon proves to be Carlsen's downfall. 33.Be6 Rxh2+ 34.Kg6 Rxb2 35.Ne4? Carlsen might well have retained "some" drawing chances with the more accurate 35.Kf5 and Black still needs to put a shift in to win. 35...c4!

The fast-running c-pawn decides the game, as Carlsen can't take it and he can't not take it! 36.Bxc4 Rb4 37.Nd6 Rb6 0-1

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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