Tour de Force

John B. Henderson • May 26, 2023

He may well be sans one world crown, but Magnus Carlsen - despite a jittery start - showed he is still a force of nature at the chessboard by staging a stunning comeback to claim victory in the Superbet Rapid/Blitz Poland, as the Norwegian wildcard won seven games in a row in the blitz tournament en route to capturing the overall title and $40,000 first prize in Warsaw.


Going into the fifth and final day of the second leg of the Saint Louis-organised $1.4m 2023 Grand Chess Tour, Carlsen’s remarkable comeback was such that he was on track to score one of the best results ever achieved in the Grand Chess Tour, but he fell short of repeating defending Tour champion Alireza Firouzja’s dominant score of 26/36 during last year’s Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament.

Carlsen was chased all the way to the finish line by local hero Jan-Krzysztof Duda - who topped the rapid tournament - and he also had to be at his most resourceful in order to survive a final round scare during a 124-move marathon against the Polish No.1, with an awkward and complex endgame of king and rook against king, bishop, and two connected central pawns.


After Carlsen’s bad start to the rapid tournament, some had even ventured to suggest that the World No.1  might well be ready to call time on his career. With a wry smile etched on his face during his victory presser, Carlsen was quick to quip: "Nice to show that my retirement only lasted a couple of days!" 


More importantly for Carlsen, this tournament would have served as an ideal warmup ahead of next Monday’s Norway tournament in Stavanger, where in his homeland he pits his wits and puts his classical skills to the test against some top-notch opposition. The ten-player field includes the American top-10 trio of Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, plus teenage newer generational wannabes Firouzja, 19, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 18, and Dommaraju Gukesh, 16.   


Superbet Rapid/Blitz combined final standings:

1. M. Carlsen (Norway) 24/36; 2. J. Duda (Poland) 23; 3-4. W. So (USA), M. Vachier-Lagrave (France) 21½; 5. L. Aronian USA) 20½; 6. R. Rapport (Romania) 18; 7. A. Giri (Netherlands) 15; 8. K. Shevchenko (Romania) 13; 9. B. Deac (Romania) 12½; 10. R. Wojtaszek (Poland) 11.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - GM Magnus Carlsen

Superbet Blitz 2023, (10)

B12: Caro-Kann, Advance variation

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Just over sixty years ago, Mikhail Tal electrified the chess world by beating Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1960 World Championship Match. But the following year, he lost the 1961 return match - but this was a match that saw the Advance Variation getting a renewed interest by becoming a potent weapon with a new Tal twist. 3...Bf5 4.h4 Tal's twist was based on meeting the most common response, 3...Bf5 with the strange-looking move 4.h4; hoping to gain space on the kingside and "squeeze" the otherwise well-developed Bf5. In fact, 4.h4 remains a topical - if rather difficult - variation today. 4...h5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 Qa5+ 7.Nd2 Qa6 The trade of queens only makes life easier for Black, who - given the right circumstances - will be following up with ...c5 where we have a French-like position, but without the problems of what to do with the light-squared bishop usually locked behind the pawn chain.

8.e6!? If you are intent on keeping the queens on, then there's also the popular line 8.c4 that's become a big favourite of Hikaru Nakamura, even deploying it against Carlsen in the 2020 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. But with 8.e6!?, MVL just wants to put the kibosh on Carlsen having an easy life with a good French-like set-up, as described in the above note. 8...Qxd3 9.exf7+ Kxf7 10.cxd3 Nd7 11.Ndf3 Nh6 12.Nh3 Nf5 13.Nhg5+ Kg8 14.Ne6 g6 15.O-O Bg7 16.Nxg7 Kxg7 There's really not much in the position, with both sides having strengths/weaknesses- but at the end of the day, it is Magnus who makes the most of his slightly better pawn structure. 17.Re1 Rae8 18.g3 Rhf8 19.Kg2 a5 Alternatively, 19...c5, a la the French, is a good option - but true to form, Carlsen opts to hold the tension in the position for now, just biding his time for a more telling break. 20.b3 Ra8 21.a4 Forced, otherwise ...a4 and Black has the more useful breaks with the a-file bursting open. 21...Rfe8 22.Ba3 Ra6 23.Re2 A better option was 23.Ng5 as 23...Rb6 24.Ne6+ Kf7 25.Rab1 and Black faces a more difficult task of trying to squeeze blood from a stone here. 23...Rb6 24.Rb1 Kf6 25.Bc1 Kg7 26.Bd2 Ra6 27.Ng5 There was more merit in 27.Re6!? Nf8 28.Ree1 Rc8 but we are not saying it leads to a whole world of difference. But the difference does soon come as MVL gets impatient in the ensuing waiting game, allowing Magnus to seize the advantage he never had. 27...Kg8 28.Ne6 Rc8 29.Ree1 Nf8 30.Nf4?! There was more merit in keeping the "holding pattern" with 30.Ng5! 30...Kf7 31.Bc3 b5 32.Re5?! Another little impatient miscue from MVL - it was time to bite the bullet now with 32.b4 axb4 33.axb5 cxb5 34.Bxb4 Ne6 35.Nxd5 Rd8 36.Nc3 Rxd4 37.Nxb5 Rxd3 and a likely draw on the cards with 3 v 3 on the kingside. 32...Rb8 33.Rc1? MVL has completely lost the plot. Best was 33.Ree1! Rb7 with Black only having a small advantage due White's doubled d-pawns. 33...bxa4 34.bxa4 Rb3! Carlsen's rook coming into the game gives him a winning advantage - it just takes a little bit of imagination to arrange his pieces in the right order, and White's pawns will soon all be set to drop off. 35.Kh3 Ra3 36.g4 hxg4+ 37.Kxg4 e6 38.h5 gxh5+ 39.Kxh5 Ng7+ 40.Kg4 Rxa4 41.Nh3 (see diagram) 41...Nh7! A nice touch with the strategic retreat, as the knight is set to remerge on f6 and then to d7; possibly even to f8 to cover e6 - and tragically, MVL overlooks the possibility of a simple knight fork in the time scramble. 42.Rb1White is in a bad way now, and if 42.Ng5+ Nxg5 43.Rxg5 Ra7! 44.Rh1 Ra3 Black is just hoovering up all the loose pawns and will start to prep pushing the a-pawn. 42...Ra7 43.Rb6? In the time scramble, MVL didn't realise he was walking into a knight fork. Best was 43.Nf4 Nf8 44.Ree1 Nf5 45.Ne2 Ng6 46.Rh1 Kg7! and Black has all the entry squares covered with his knights and king, and now threatens ...Ra2 and pushing the a-pawn. 43...Nf6+ 44.Kf3 Nd7 45.Ng5+ Kg6 46.Nxe6 Nxe5+ 0-1

The 42 Paradox

By John B. Henderson • October 2, 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 • September 29, 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 • September 27, 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 • September 25, 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 • September 22, 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 • September 19, 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 • September 14, 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 • September 11, 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 • September 8, 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 • September 4, 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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