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Magnus Carlsen vs Levon Aronian
"Magnus Opus" (game of the day Mar-11-2010)
World Championship Candidates (2007), Elista RUS, rd 1, May-29
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Hedgehog Defense (A30)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 23 times; par: 61 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-01-07  Chessmensch: Malcolm Pein discusses this game in his June 2, 2007 chess column in the Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/mai...
Aug-25-07  notyetagm: Magnus annotates this game in the most recent issue of New In Chess Magazine (7 no. 5).
Mar-11-10  patzer2: The final 41. f6! envisions bringing the White King to g6 and dares Black to try and do something about it.
Mar-11-10  Gilmoy: <Richard Taylor: (almost simple - but that is not the right term)(crystalline?)>

<TheBB: "transparent">

[dictionary.com:]

limpid, adj. 1. Characterized by transparent clearness; pellucid. 2. Easily intelligible; clear. 3. Calm and untroubled; serene. [The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Ed.]

From Fr. <limpide>, from L. <limpidus> "clear", from <limpa> "water goddess, water". [Online Etymology Dictionary]

Mar-11-10  patzer2: While Magnus Opus is a cute pun, one hopes young Super GM Carlsen will produce even greater results than this game (e.g. a World Championship).
Mar-11-10  SugarDom: Magnum Opus = an artistic masterpiece.
Great pun...
Mar-11-10  Kazzak: Yes, Magnus Opus is a nice pun, though terrible grammar. One can consider that Magnus Carlsen derives from Carolus Magnus, Charlemagne - The Great King.

Carlsen - the son of Carl, has as its root Karl.

You may have read Nabokov's Karol, Dama y Valet. Karol, Krol, Krul - are other versions.

King Charles is, of course, to overdo it.

We'll find out whether Magnus Carlsen is headed where his name points. ;.)

Mar-11-10  Garech: I agree with the above comment that Carlsen has a similar style to Capablanca - great play. I find it strange though that this game is defined as a hedgehog defence; in my opinion the absence of the move a6 and the move d5 coming so early should disqualify it from being so defined.
Mar-11-10  Andrijadj: He made it look soooo easy...Fischerlike performance...
Mar-11-10  kevin86: White will move the king to g6 and win with mate threats or promotion threats-black cannot stop both.
Mar-11-10  patzer2: Perhaps the endgame tactic 29. Re4! might make for a good Saturday or Sunday puzzle.
Mar-11-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingfu: Correct, Garech. Hedgehog means not moving anything past black's third rank! Back in the 70s Duncan Suttles and others were proponents of Hedgehogs. a6 c6 Ne7 Bb2, you know the drill. Trench warfare. The French Defense should be renamed as The Maginot Line.
Mar-11-10  ROO.BOOKAROO: Of course, "magnus opus" is acceptable as a pun, and a good one. CG could even have retained the original form of "magnum opus". The only drawback of this pun is that it can apply to any other good game played by Carlsen. Variations would be possible by playing with "opus", for instance "opossum," or "opium," etc..But there are limited variations along those lines. It will require more ingenuity to find puns for Carlsen's games.
Mar-11-10  Bobwhoosta: <More Puns>

I got a ton of 'em, and all worse than anything chessgames has dared throw out there!!!

Mar-11-10  SneakWeasel: Richard Taylor: I agree think that transparent is the right word. Things that are truly transparent can not be seen at all.
Mar-11-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: <SneakWeasel> Yes - but to be pedantic - in literature 'transparent' almost means too obvious or easy, hence it is or can be disparaging.

But point taken.

Mar-11-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: Where did Aronian go wrong in this game?
Mar-24-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingfu: Where did Aronian go wrong?

I would have taken the pawn at d5 on move 8 with the pawn instead of the knight. Black sets up a good center.

Jun-22-10  jmboutiere: I think 10...Be4 is wrong
Jun-22-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  kamalakanta: Carlsen makes it look easy
Feb-14-12  Naniwazu: 22. h5!

Clearing the way for the Knight to come to f5. Very nice play by Magnus.

Oct-06-12  cionics: This game has a certain inevitability about it.
Mar-16-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: This game and this match first clued me in to how strong Magnus was (I'm slow on the uptake). It's funny, according to acirce on ICC they were criticizing him for going into the ending because <this is not his strength>. Now we know better.
May-31-16  cormier:


click for larger view

Analysis by Houdini: d 26

1. (0.39): 16...Qb7 17.Bf4 Nd7 18.Bd6 Rfe8 19.Rad1 Kg8 20.h5 h6 21.Bf4 Kh8 22.Ne5 Bxe5 23.Bxe5 Nxe5 24.dxe5 Kg8 25.Rd6 Qa6 26.Qe2 c4 27.Qd2 Qa5 28.f4 Qa3 29.Rd1 Re7 30.Qc2 Rc8 31.Kh2

2. (0.49): 16...h6 17.Bf4 Nd7 18.Rad1 Qb7 19.Bd6 Rfe8 20.Ne5 Bxe5 21.dxe5 Red8 22.Qf3 Kg8 23.g4 Nf8 24.Rh1 Ng6 25.h5 Ne7 26.Rh3 Nc8 27.Qf4 Nxd6 28.exd6 f6 29.Rf3 Qa6 30.e5 Qe2 31.Rh1 Qxe5

3. (0.55): 16...Nd7 17.e5 Bd8 18.Qe4 h6 19.a4 Re8 20.Be3 f5 21.exf6 Nxf6 22.Qd3 Nd5 23.a5 Bf6 24.Bd2 c4 25.Qb1 Re7 26.axb6 axb6 27.Rxa8 Qxa8 28.Qb5 Qc8 29.Ra1 Kg8 30.h5 Rf7 31.Ra4 Rc7

Apr-18-18  cormier:


click for larger view

Analysis by Houdini 4: d 28 dpa done

1. + / = (0.37): 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 Bb4 15.Re2 Bc3 16.Bb2 Bxb2 17.Rxb2 Nd7 18.Nc4 Rc8 19.Rc1 f5 20.e5 Nf6 21.Rbc2 Nd5 22.Nd6 Rxc2 23.Rxc2 Qg5 24.Qc1 f4 25.h4 Qe7 26.Rc8 g6 27.Rxf8+ Qxf8 28.Qe1 fxg3 29.fxg3 h5 30.Qe2 Kg7 31.Qd3 Kh6

2. + / = (0.42): 13...Bf6 14.Ng4 Re8 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.Bf4 Nd7 17.Qa4 e5 18.Bc1 Re7 19.d5 Qg6 20.h4 Qd6 21.c4 h6 22.Qb3 Nf6 23.a4 Rb7 24.Qc3 Re8 25.Rb1 a6 26.Re2 Rd8 27.f3 Re8 28.a5 b5

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