Vincent

John B. Henderson • Aug 11, 2023

A FIDE World Cup match-up in Baku with Magnus Carlsen is every 18-year-old’s dream scenario. But for Vincent Keymer, it turned from a starry, starry night into a disaster with the German teenager missing a winning tactic that not only would have sensationally knocked the World No.1 out of the $1.8m competition but also denied the Norwegian a possible lifetime slam of major titles.


After winning the opening game of their mini-match with a nice positional squeeze and endgame grind, Keymer held a big advantage going into game 2 in the “brutal and unforgiving” knockout format with Carlsen facing a must-win scenario to stay in the World Cup, the only major title the Norwegian has never won. 

But a clearly nervous Carlsen not only got nothing from his White opening in a solid Ruy Lopez but looked set for a shock exit in today’s diagram position - but he received an unlikely reprieve when Keymer played 17…Qxc3? rather than the big tactic of 17...Nxe4!! 18.Qxe5 Rxe5 19.fxe4 Rxe4 that would have won back the piece plus an extra two pawns.


But instead of the the top seed having to pack his bags and headed back home to Oslo without the one major title in the game he’s never won, the oversight allowed Carlsen to go on to grind the teenager down in typical fashion to take the match into a tiebreak-decider - and a clearly exasperated Carlsen offered up a very frank explanation of his feelings in his post-game interview.


”Progressing in the World Cup is one thing... but honestly since day one I was wondering what am I doing here, why am I spending all this time playing classical chess which I just find stressful and boring. But it's also not a good state of mind. First of all, you should try to do well. But these were my thoughts. If I'd lose, that's gonna be another humiliation in the World Cup.”


But not so fortunate proved to be Carlsen’s arch-rival and second seed, Hikaru Nakamura, as the popular US streamer sensationally was knocked out of the competition by another rising star in the tiebreak, with the 18-year-old Indian Rameshbabu “Pragg” Praggnanandhaa prevailing - and with it, the young talent everyone fears now moves a step further to emulating the Bobby Fischer teenage-feat of a possible automatic place into the Candidates.   


Also crashing out went another American seed, with Wesley So losing to Alexey Sarana. And in the Women's World Cup, Women's World Champion and top seed Ju Wenjun crashed and burnt, losing to Germany's Elizabeth Paehtz in the tiebreaker.


Last 16 results:

Carlsen 3.5-25 Keymer; Sanal 2.5-3.5 Ivanchuk; Svane 4-5 Wang Hao; Esipenko 1.5-2.5 Gukesh D.; Abasov 2.5-1.5 Svidler; Vocaturo 1-3 Salem; Bacrot 0.5-1.5 Vidit; Sarin 1-3 Nepomniachtchi; Caruana 1.5-0.5 Robson; Maghsoodloo 2.5-3.5 Duda; Dominguez 3.5-2.5 Wojtaszek; Sarana 1.5-0.5 So; Santos 0.5-1.5 Grandelius; Erigasi 1.5-0.5 Sindarov; Ponomariov 0.5-1.5 Berkes; Praggnanandha 3-1 Nakamura


Final eight pairings:

Carlsen v Ivanchuk; Wang Hao v Gukesh D.; Abasov v Salem; Vidit v Nepomniachtchi; Caruana v Duda; Dominquez v Sarana; Grandelius v Erigaisi; Berkes v Praggnanandhaa 


The FIDE World Cup brackets/pairing tree can be found by clicking the link.

GM Vincent Keymer - GM Magnus Carlsen

FIDE World Cup, (4.1)

D35: QGD, Exchange/Ragozin Variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 The Exchange variation is not a dynamic line you would normally associate with a young rising star of the game - but in truth, Keymer, under the tutelage of Peter Leko, is developing into a positional player with a style that is very reminiscent of Anatoly Karpov. 5...Bb4 Carlsen is aiming to play the trendy Ragozin variation, although the king's knight is still on g1. This yields White an additional and important possibility of ..Nge2 at once or after Bf1-d3. This is apparently the best option for White. 6.e3 h6 7.Bf4 Bf5 8.Bd3

This is a pet-line for Keymer, playing it last year against Gukesh D at Biel. Carlsen was obviously well prepared for this - but things went astray with the World No.1 missing a brilliant tactic that turned the tables. 8...Bxd3 9.Qxd3 c6!N And this is what Carlsen had cooked up for Keymer. Previous, we'd seen 9...O-O 10.Ne2 c6 11.g4! in the aforementioned Keymer-Gukesh D encounter at Biel 2022. 10.Ne2 Nh5! Carlsen obviously has no intentions of transposing into Keymer's game with Gukesh! 11.Be5 Nd7 12.h3 It's the London System treatment, as Keymer creates the ideal retreating square on h2 for the bishop. 12...Nhf6 13.Bh2 O-O Now Carlsen can castles, as g4 is going to be well-met by ...Re8 and ...Ne4. Safe to say then that the opening homework has worked out well for the World No.1 early doors.

14.a3 Ba5 15.O-O Re8 16.Rac1 Qe7 I suppose it would have been too simplistic for Carlsen to look at exchanging bishops with 16...Bc7 - but Keymer soon persuades him otherwise. 17.b4 We're back into more familiar QGD Exchange variation territory with the minority attack. 17...Bd8 18.Ng3 Heading to the wonderful knight outpost on f5.

18...Bc7 An admission from Carlsen that he has a battle on his hands, as with the knight heading to f5, he now desperately wants to trade the bishops. 19.Nf5 Bxh2+ 20.Kxh2 Qe6 21.Ng3 Qd6 It's hard to imagine seeing Carlsen losing from this simple position - but he takes his eye off the ball at the crucial moment by missing a clever tactic from the teenager. 22.Kg1 a5 23.Qb1 Also, a solid option was 23.bxa5 Rxa5 24.a4 - but with 23.Qb1, Keymer clearly wants to retain the minority attack option. 23...Nb6 I don't necessarily blame Carlsen for this wrong move, as heading to c4 looks like the most natural move.But if you dig a bit deeper, you discover there's a flaw in Carlsen's plan with a clever tactical trap laid by Keymer. The best move was 23...b5! to better prepare the knight hop Nd7-b6-c4.  24.bxa5 Nc4 25.Qb4! The b-pawn is strictly taboo with 25.Qxb7?? Reb8 26.Nf5 Rxb7 27.Nxd6 Nxd6 winning a piece and the game to boot. 25...Rxa5 Trying to avoid the trade of queens with 25...Qc7 runs into 26.e4! with the prospects of lots of counterplay for White. 26.Nxd5! A wonderful resource from Keymer, and suddenly Carlsen finds himself in a tough struggle against a hungry rising teenager. 26...Nxd5 The only option now, given that 26...cxd5 27.Rxc4 Qa6 28.Rc5 Rxa3 29.Rb1 Ra1 30.Rb5! and White has a big advantage as his heavy furniture bosses the b-file.

27.Qxc4 Rxa3 28.Qc5 Qxc5 29.Rxc5 Rea8 It would have been more prudent first to restrict the knight's mobility with 29...g6!? 30.Nf5 h5 31.g4 hxg4 32.hxg4 Ra2 33.Rb1 Ra1 34.Rxa1 Rxa1+ 35.Kg2 Kf8 36.g5 Nc7? Probably still in shock at missing Keymer's resourceful 26.Nxd5, Carlsen walks into a blunder losing a pawn and with it the game. His only option was 36...Ne7 37.Nd6 b6 38.Rc2 Ra5 and Black should easily hold. 37.Nd6! g6 Losing a pawn and the game, as defending b7 with 37...Ra7 offers no salvation as it runs slap-bang into 38.Rf5! and Black loses the f-pawn.

38.Nxb7 Losing the b-pawn was Carlsen's least worst option - but it is really downhill with all the velocity of Franz Klammer now for the World No.1. 38...Rb1 39.Nd8! As Keymer himself opined after the game, he had so many ways to win here but this is by far the best way to go about it, as forcing the exchange of rooks leaves Carlsen less of a chance for a miracle save in the ending. 39...Rb5 40.Rxb5 cxb5 41.Nc6 Ke8 Carlsen is in dire straits here - and so much so that threatening to run the b-pawn with 41...Na6 will see 42.Kf3 b4 43.Ke2 and the b-pawn falls in a couple of moves. And it's much the same for 41...Nd5 42.Kf3 b4 43.Na5! Ke7 44.e4 Nc7 45.Nc6+ picking off the b-pawn.

42.Nb4 Nicely blockading the b-pawn and denying Carlsen the d5 or a6 squares for his knight. The end is nigh, as the placard-carrying street doom-monger's would have it. 42...Ke7 43.f4! A nice clamp-down move - and once e4 comes, Black will be close to the resignation point. 43...Kd6 44.Kf3 Ne6 45.Ke2 Ng7 46.e4 Nh5 47.Kf3 The rest is academic, as Keymer pushes Carlsen to resign. 47...Ng7 48.Nd3 Nh5 49.Ke3 Ng3 50.d5 Kc7 51.Kd4 Kb6 52.Ne5 b4 53.Nxf7 b3 54.Ne5 Ne2+ 55.Ke3 Kb5 56.Nd3 Nc3 57.d6 Kc6 58.e5 1-0

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