And White fought hard so it was enjoyable to play over.

Wei Yi said he'd seen the drawing move 48. b4, but wanted to play for more - missing Carlsen's Kc7 Nc5! trick

But still, 48.b4 Rd2! looks winning for Black: 49.a6 (with the gain of tempo for advancing the a-pawn on move 47, White now has this resource) 49...Nd6 50.a7 Nc8+ 51.Kb7 Nxa7 52.Kxa7 Rxd4 53.Nxd4+ Kd5 54.Ne2 (or 54.Nc2 Kc4 55.Ka6 Kb3 56.b5 Kxc2 57.b6 Kd3 58.b7 c2 59.b8Q c1Q with a won queen endgame) 54...Kc4 55.Nxc3 Kxb4. Instead of 50.a7, Black can also try 50.Rxd6+ Rxd6 51.a7 Rxc6+ 52.Kxc6 c2 53.a8Q c1Q+ or 50.Nd8+ Kd7 51.a7 Rxd4 52.a8Q c2 53.Qc6+ Kxd8 54.Qc7+ Ke8 55.Qxc2 Rxb4+, but in both cases Black has at the very least good practical winning chances.

cro777: He who rides a tiger ...

Wanting an interesting game Carlsen chose a Modern Tiger system (the Modern Defense with ...a6):

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6!

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"This last move might seem like madness, yet there is method in ’t."

https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Ima...

The resulting RN vs RN endgame due to its asymmetry was tricky (both sides rely on tactical weapons).

On move 35 Wei Yi missed a chance to draw

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Here, 35.b4 (instead of 35.Ne5) Nxg2 36.Rc3 would have probably led to a draw.

"But I still want to award 35.Ne5 with an exclamation mark as Wei's idea to activate the pieces to the maximum and force a draw was brilliant. He missed a detail though." (GM Dejan Bojkov)

He wins those more often than not.

Indeed. That is why he is champion and so highly rated - he is mentally strong and does not collapse after an early setback.

cro777: Had Wei Yi played 48.b4 ...

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Here, Wei Yi saw 48.b4! (objectively the better move), but he thought that 48.Kc7 was promising more (he completely missed the strong answer 48...Nc5!).

"After 48.b4 Black keeps on playing for the win. But is he winning instead? I do not know." (GM Dejan Bojkov)

48.b4 Rd2 49.a6 Nd6 50.a7 Nc8+ 51.Kb7 Nxa7 52.Kxa7 Rxd4 53.Nxd4+ Kd5 54.Ne2 Kc4 55.Nxc3 Kxb4.

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This position is theoretically won for Black (Black mates in 27).

The main line is:

56. Ne2 Kc4 57. h4 Kd3 58. Nf4+ Ke4 59. Ne2 h6 60. Ng3+ Kf4 61. Ne2+ Ke3 62. h5 g5 63. Ng3 Kf4 64. Ne2+ Kg4 65. Nd4 f4 etc

After 48.b4 Rd2 49.a6 Nd6 instead of 50.a7 White can try 50.Rxd6+ leading to the following queen endgame:

50. Rxd6+ Rxd6 51. a7 Rxc6+ 52. Kxc6 c2 53. a8=Q c1=Q+ 54. Kb5

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But, as <Eyal> pointed out, "in both cases Black has at the very least good practical winning chances".

I think he will defeat MC in a title match in 6-8 years.

22....BxR

Eyal: Some great tactical ideas that weren't played over the board:

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Here, after Carlsen's 29...Rd8!, Wei Yi was accurate with 30.Kb2!; 30.Bxc7? loses to 30...Kxc7 31.Rxa6 Rd1+ 32.Kb2 b4! with a mating met.

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Here, after 33...Ne3!, Wei Yi again played accurately with 34.c4!; 34.g3? (to defend the g2 pawn) loses to 34...Nd1+ 35.Kc1 Nc3! 36.b4 (to avoid the above mentioned mating net) 36...Rd1+ 37.Kb2 Na4+ and White has to give up the exchange on a4 (38.Kb3 Rb1#).

[Wei Yi's big mistake apparently came a move later with 35.Ne5? instead of b4!, although - as in the quote from Bojkov above - it was part of a very nice concept of activating White's pieces in order to create a mating net.]

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Here, Carlsen played 39...Nd6!! to maintain his advantage; 40.Kxd6 would allow Black to gain a crucial tempo for advancing the c-pawn with 40...Rd2+ 41.Ke7 c2. Instead, after 39...Rxg2? 40.Nc6! c2?? 41.Ra7+ Kc8 42.Kb6! Black would be mated next move with Rc7. In the game, Carlsen was able to deflect the white king from c5 with 40...Ne4+, so that his king could escape via d6; but even more accurate would have been 40...Kc7! immediately, when the knight on d6 can defend the king: 41.Ra7+ Nb7+ 42.Kb5 Rxg2.

Both players deserve credit for their bold and ingenious play in this highly entertaining game, but Carlsen's 39.-Nd6!! is one of the most amazing moves I have ever seen in an endgame constellation like this one.

keypusher: Thanks for all the helpful kibitzing on this amazing endgame, by Eyal especially of course.

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Early on I thought 11.exd6 looked quite strong but 11...Nf5 seems to keep the balance.

One aspect of Carlsen's anti-engine prep style is that, unlike Fischer and Kasparov in their day, he doesn't have a lot of sharp counterattacking lines with Black at his disposal. Instead, when he wants to win with Black, Carlsen almost has to play very provocatively (like Petrosian used to do sometimes), hoping his opponent will "come at him" and overextend himself. Wei Yi was certainly willing to come at him alright...Carlsen must have had some anxious moments in the early going.

Wei Yi played very actively here, however if Carlsen is going to play hyper-modern nonsense instead of real openings like the Sveshnikov, Grünfeld or the Two Knights Defense, then I would like to see someone play real chess against him by seizing all the territory with c4, d4, e4, f4, g4, h4 then starting an avalanche when the time is right.

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