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Magnus Carlsen vs Vidit Santosh Gujrathi
Isle of Man Masters (2017), Douglas IMN, rd 7, Sep-29
Formation: King's Indian Attack (A07)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Sep-29-17  frogbert: Vidit steers towards draw. This will be over soon. A wasted white for Carlsen, and possibly wasted chances for Vidit.
Sep-29-17  posoo: I THINK dat FRUGBUNCE is an OVERSIMPLo in dis position ANYONE can hop for ANYtghing!
Sep-29-17  frogbert: In this position, one hopes for an early dinner! :)
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: < I THINK dat FRUGBUNCE is an OVERSIMPLo in dis position ANYONE can hop for ANYtghing!> I AGUREE HOLEHARTEDLY —

I can't say what it's like to be a grandmaster, but at my level of play, it's well understood that as long as the queens are on the board there might just be a winner.

Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<moronovich> Meanwhile Kramnik is playing the Benko !.>

According to the ChessTempo database, this is the first time that Kramnik has ever played the Benko as Black. He must have decided to have some fun.

Sep-29-17  frogbert: I'm willing to bet a chunk of money that 9 of out of 10 top 10 players would've played 26. Qxc6 and called it a day. ;)
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: ½-½a draw agreed-and early dinner.Also for <frogbert> ;)
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: <AylerKupp: <<moronovich> Meanwhile Kramnik is playing the Benko !.> According to the ChessTempo database, this is the first time that Kramnik has ever played the Benko as Black. He must have decided to have some fun.>

Yes for the first time and hopefully the veteran is having some fun.At least he is currently having a nice position.

Sep-29-17  frogbert: Carlsen took another 5 moves to shake off the disappointment with his own game. Not that it would ever change the outcome. Caruana had a won position against Jones after only 24 moves, but the Englishman chose to continue. He thought for 20 minutes before playing the losing move 23... Rf5? - probably missing the blow 24. Qg4!
Sep-29-17  Everett: Nothing wrong with the Benko, of course. And Kramnik has dabbled in Benoni structures for over a decade, including 2004 vs Leko in the WC.
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: <Nothing wrong with the Benko, of course.>

Glad to hear.He is not a young man anymore.

Sep-29-17  SirRuthless: The spirit of rebellion is afoot.
Sep-29-17  JimNorCal: A fairly perfunctory draw from MC. He'll be fighting next round.
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  ajk68: I am perplexed at what Carlsen was trying to accomplish here. Ideas?
Sep-29-17  frogbert: It simply was a failed opening. It happens.
Sep-29-17  CountryGirl: Very successful playing for a draw here by Black. He avoided unnecessary piece swaps - the usual trap for draw seekers. Made it look easy peasy.
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Black's campaign to steer towards the drawing haven was very definitely helped by the insipid opening.
Sep-29-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Vidit said the key move was 15...Nd6. Black can drift and get into trouble unless he has this move.

He is helped that there is no other logical plan. The light square bishop needs the knight to vacate f5 or it has no good squares.

Sep-29-17  JPi: I'm still strongly impressed by the slow strategic maneuver Rb1-b3-Bb2. May be White should go even slower with 12.a3 cutting options which appear latter on a file.
Sep-29-17  cormier: 1) -0.66 (25 ply) 19.Bxd4 exd4 20.Rxe8+ Qxe8 21.Qc1 Qd8 22.h4 Bf5 23.Qc4 Be6 24.Qa4 h6 25.Kf1 b6 26.Ng1 g5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Be4 f5 29.Bg2 Kh7 30.Ne2 Kg6 31.f4 g4 32.Qb4 Bf6 33.Bc6 Bd5

2) -0.73 (25 ply) 19.h4 Bf5 20.Bxd4 exd4 21.Rxe8+ Qxe8 22.Qc2 Qd8 23.Qc4 Be6 24.Qa4 h6 25.Kf1 b6 26.Ng1 g5 27.hxg5 hxg5 28.Be4 f5 29.Bg2 Kh7 30.Ne2 Kg6 31.Bf3

3) -0.66 (24 ply) 19.Nxd4 exd4 20.Bb2 Rxe1+ 21.Qxe1 Bf5 22.Qe2 Qd7 23.Qc2 Qe8 24.Bf1 Qe5 25.Bc1 h6 26.Bf4 Qxb5 27.Bxc7 Qb4 28.Bf4 Qc3 29.Qd1 Be6 30.Bd6 Bf8 31.Bxf8 Kxf8 32.Bg2

Sep-29-17  cormier: 1) -0.58 (26 ply) 21...Qd8 22.h4 b6 23.Qf4 Be6 24.Nd2 h6 25.Nc4 g5 26.hxg5 hxg5 27.Qf3 Bf6 28.Nd2 g4 29.Qe4 Qe7 30.Nc4 Qc5 31.Qf4 Bg5 32.Qe4 Qxb5 33.Qxd4 Be7 34.Qc3 Qd7 35.Nb2 Bf5

2) -0.36 (25 ply) 21...Qd7 22.b6 cxb6 23.Ng5 h6 24.Bh3 f5 25.Qc4+ Kh8 26.Nf7+ Kh7 27.Nd6 Qxd6 28.Qxc8 Qc6 29.Qxc6 bxc6 30.b4 Bf8 31.Bg2 Bxb4 32.Bxc6 Kg7 33.Kg2 g5 34.f3 Kf6 35.Bb5 Ke5 36.Kf2 Kd5 37.Bc4+ Kc6

3) -0.31 (25 ply) 21...Bf5 22.Qxc7 Bxd3 23.b6 Ba6 24.h4 d3 25.Kh2 Bf6 26.Nd2 Kg7 27.Ne4 Qe6 28.Qc5 Bb2 29.Bf3 Qxb3 30.h5 Qe6 31.Kg2 gxh5 32.Qg5+ Qg6 33.Qd8 Kh6 34.Nd6 Bg7 35.Nxb7 Qf6

Sep-29-17  JPi: Another option to do not open the "a" file is 14.b4!?. Indeed I'm not sure the opening wasn't with interest on White side.
Sep-29-17  frogbert: <Vidit said the key move was 15...Nd6.>

Hm. I'm pretty sure that someone mentioned how strong Nd6 was during the game. :)

Sep-30-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: Hi frogbert:

"It simply was a failed opening. It happens."

I think you have it right. There is a smattering, a wee tinsey bit of Ulf Andersson from the 70's in Carlsen.

Ulf use to play what he agreed was 'Backward Chess' it worked as Black but got a lot of draws with White.

Of course there are kinds of players inside Carlsen though he is 99% his own man. It's just every now and then he either misjudges the mood of his opponent (he's gonna fight) or just goes where the winds takes him and if his opponent plays well and avoids even the smallest of blunders, then he finds himself with a sterile position unable to create complications.

Here the wind took him to barren wastes of want on other days Valhalla.

Oct-22-17  Everett: Carlsen's mercurial nature regarding openings is reminiscent of Bronstein. The latter did it not only to be playful, yet to also test himself, even to the point of giving himself problems to fix OTB. I see Carlsen's spirit sometimes echoing this past great.

One big difference of course is that Carlsen goes full-Karpov (with a greater taste for the initiative) after the opening.

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