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Magnus Carlsen vs Kristian Stuvik Holm
Pro Chess League (2018) (rapid), chess.com INT, rd 3, Jan-31
Anderssen Opening: General (A00)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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sac: 27.Nxf7 PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Mar-12-18  lost in space:


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At the beginning ist was this position with the task Black to play. I thought I have to start learning chess from scratch again....

Mar-12-18  landshark: When they first posted todays's puzzle, it was Black to move on move on move 28 and I thought we were in for another insane Monday.
Mar-12-18  landshark: Now that I see the mate-in-two it feels like it's Monday again. Just a half point for today /:
Mar-12-18  jffun1958: 2# : 29.Qxg6+ Nxg6 30.Nxh5#
Mar-12-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: I went with the ♕ sac. Why didn't Carlsen play it? Didn't he know it was Monday?
Mar-12-18  ndg2: It's reassuring the champ can miss a mate in two, too, if no one tolds him there is one
Mar-12-18  agb2002: White has a pawn for a bishop.

The black knight blocks the action of the rook on c7. Therefore, 29.Qxg6+ Nxg6 30.Nxh5#.

Mar-12-18  Jamboree: The weird aspect of this game that no one's commenting about is this:

The black player was rated 2436???

That's a FIDE International Master-level rating. And yet he played nearly like an amateur for many moves.

First, between moves 8 and 12 he spends five entire moves in the opening rearranging his knights in dervish dance for no apparent purpose, while leaving his queenside bishop and rook undeveloped -- where they remained, useless, until the end of the game.

Then for the next three moves, he moves his queen around in a tight little circle as well, again with no apparent goal in mind, while continuing to leave his other queenside pieces undeveloped.

Then between moves 18 and 20 he once again moves his queen in circles for three moves -- now that's six moves in total futzing around with the queen -- with no strategic goal in mind.

And then on moves 28 he walks face-first into a mate in two -- which his opponent didn't even need to see, because there were other ways to beat him as well.

OK, I could imagine a little kid playing against Carlsen this way in a simul. Or maybe a 1300 player.

But a 2436 player??? They're supposed to be good. Very good. How come whenever I played International Masters, they played like geniuses? Why did I never encounter one playing like this?

Mar-12-18  leRevenant: It just shows to go.
Mar-12-18  EIDorado: @Jamboree That's because Carlsen put him out of his opening book first. Then Carlsen assessed the position much better, while the 2436 was simply lost in the woods.
Mar-12-18  saturn2: What is that? 28..BLACK to play?
Mar-12-18  BlackTag: It seems black had a clear goal of wasting moves with his queen dance and the knights early on in the game.. What happened to coordination, goals etc??
Mar-12-18  nasher: Monday puzzle ... supposed to easy ... it took me forever to find the mate in two. Then I noticed the white player was Carlsen and I said to myself Ï bet Carlsen saw the mate in two in about 2 seconds ... or maybe not.
Mar-12-18  malt: 29.Q:g6+ N:g6 30.Nh5#
I thought it was 29.R:e7 at first, then realised it's Monday.
Mar-12-18  Squire49: It almost never happens on Mondays, but I missed it. Small consolation is that MC missed it too:-).
Mar-12-18  Cheapo by the Dozen: I found this to be remarkably hard for a Monday puzzle. I'm reassured now that I know a GM missed it too. :) Any GM would do, actually; it didn't have to be the world champ.

The way I finally solved it was with rigor.

1. White had nothing going except the possibility of mate.

2. Mate was very unlikely unless White could cover f7.

3. f7 was very hard to cover unless Black's knight moved -- and that has to be "moved" rather than "captured".

4. Qxg6+ was the only way I saw to force the knight to move ...

5. ... and it did force immediate mate. Solution!!!

Mar-12-18  cocker: A very hard 'very easy'. As played, surely 30 Qxg6+ would have been better?
Mar-12-18  patzer2: Got the first moveof today's Monday puzzle solution with 29. Qg6+, but after 29...Kf7 I went with 30. Qxg6+ Kf8 31. Qh7 +- (+20.96 @ 20 ply, Stockfish 9) instead of the game follow-up 29. Qxg6 +- (+8.77 @ 23 ply, Stockfish 9).

Black's decisive mistake appears to be 22...cxd4?, allowing 23. cxd4 +- (+2.61 @ 21 ply, Stockfish 9). Instead, 22...Nc4 23. Bc1 e5 24. dxe5 ± (+0.89 @ 19 ply, Stockfish 9) keeps Black's survival chances alive.

Earlier, instead of 11...Ne5?! potentially allowing 12. 0-0 ⩲ to ±(+0.67 @ 19 ply, Stockfish 9), I prefer 11...Bd7 = to +./= (+0.22 @ 19 ply, Stockfish 9).

Mar-12-18  thegoodanarchist: Many roads lead to Rome.
Mar-12-18  dumbgai: Is it just me or does the puzzle start with black to move on move 28?
Mar-12-18  TheTamale: <al wazir: I went with the ♕ sac. Why didn't Carlsen play it? Didn't he know it was Monday?>

Thanks for starting my week with a laugh!

Mar-12-18  Pasker: Hm..it shows they are human too. They miss tricky tactics like this sometimes. Its a kind of move you get it in a second or don't. I mean 29. Qxg6+
Mar-12-18  Vermit: This looks more like a helpmate than an actual game.
Mar-12-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: Hi Jamboree,

A wee bit harsh on the lad.

You can see a logical reason behind all of Black moves including 28...Kf6 are not random moves and just made for fun. (also we must remember it was a rapid game. 15 + 2 secs for the game)

here: Black to play.


click for larger view

Black is lost no matter what he plays.

28...Kf6 breaks the pin and holds the g6 pawn.

Make no mistake. Carlsen will be disappointed with himself for missing the classy mate. I know I would.

28...Kf6 29.e5+ dxe5 30.Qxg6+ Nxg6 31.Nh5+ Kf5 and mate with a pawn. 32.g4 is also pretty.

The play with the Knights was OK. and the Queen to b6 was to hold up d4 and dissuade a 0-0-0 and the move g4 which is the usual follow up to early h4's. At this speed you are guided by general ideas both for and against you.

Then the Queen poked about on the Queenside hitting d3, preventing b4 and trying to hold back d4.

The bad move IMO (remembering this was a rapid game) was here:


click for larger view

White has got in d4 and Black in typical Sicilian Mode played 22...cxd4 (probably automatically) and the open c-file did him. 22...Nc4 was better.

That is hindsight analysis. But anything that allows a Rook a free trip to the 7th must viewed with suspicion.

The correct reply to 1.a3 is 1...a6.

Mar-12-18  SpamIAm: <cocker>, Easy to be Hard. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Dog_Night
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