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[Javier]

As you probably know, the unofficial World Rapid and the World Blitz Championship are currently being played in Astana (Kaz).
Magnus Carlsen started the first event quite well. First and second day were pretty good, as he was 1.5 ahead of his opponents before the third day, without having lost a single game. But then he started losing some games, and you know it goes when you start losing... he lost 2 in a row against Grischuk and Ivanchuck and ended up second behind Karjakin.
Ok, 10.5/15 and second place is not so bad. Granted. However, the way he was playing in some games was a little disconcerting. I guess when you're 2800+ you've gotta watch out what openings you play, but some of the decisions that he made in a few of the games were not those that one is to epect from the highest rated player on the planet!
Apart from his game against Dreev, I've also added notes to his 2 games games against Ivanchuck, the rapid and the blitz.
Reminder: Please use the menu located over the board to choose the game you want to see.


[Event "World Rapid Final"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2012.07.07"] [Round "6"] [White "(E) Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Dreev, Aleksey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B11"] [WhiteElo "2837"] [BlackElo "2677"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "96"] [EventDate "2012.07.01"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8. Qh4 Qa5 9. Bd3 (9. Bd2 {This is possible also.}) 9... Na6 {Intending ...Nb4 and then exchanging on d3. I was watching this game live on the internet, and I was thinking something along the lines of "If Magnus doesn't do anything to prevent Dreev's plan, he'll have absolutely nothing out of the opening". We're talking about a 15 minutes game, that's plenty of time to come up with something original, some idea that gives your opponent some problems. The move that I thought Magnus would play was a3!? (see below for comments)} 10. O-O $6 {Very disappointing!} (10. a3 $5 {After this, I think black really must play .. .Nb4 or else his a6 N will be doing very little, even if black relocates it to c7 later.} Nb4 {I think this is forced.} 11. axb4 Qxa1 12. O-O {Whilst it is true that the black Q has no squares to go to, white doesn't really have any direct threats, apart from the Bg5 or Bh6 tactical ideas. However, black doesn't have many useful moves. I think Dreev would have been hard pressed to find a good way out of his problems here, and that white's sacrifice is fully justified here. Here are some lines:} O-O-O (12... Bxb4 $2 13. Bh6 Qxb2 14. Nd1 $1 $18 {And black loses material.}) 13. b5 $1 {Here I'm thinking that if black lets white exchange on c6, then he'll have plenty of compensation as black's King will be dangerously exposed.} (13. Bd2 Qxb2 14. Rb1 Qa3 15. Rb3 Qa1+ 16. Rb1 Qa3 $11) 13... cxb5 (13... c5 $2 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. Be3 Qxb2 16. Qc4 $16) 14. Nxb5 Qa5 15. Bf4 Rd7 16. Bg3 $44 {And the g3-b8 diagonal looks rather frightening. Black's K is exposed. I'd rather be white here.}) 10... Nb4 { Dreev had no problems whatsoever for the rest of the game. In fact, he was a little better for most of the remaining moves.} 11. Rd1 Be7 12. Bg5 O-O-O 13. a3 Nxd3 14. Rxd3 h6 15. Bd2 Qf5 16. Re1 Bd6 17. Ne4 Nxe4 18. Rxe4 Be7 19. Qg4 Qxg4 20. hxg4 Bf6 21. b4 Rd7 22. f4 g6 23. c3 h5 24. g5 Bg7 25. Kf2 b6 26. Ke2 Rhd8 27. Ree3 Kb7 28. Rh3 Bf8 29. Be1 a5 30. Bd2 axb4 31. axb4 Ra8 32. Rh1 Ra2 33. Ke3 Rd8 34. Ke4 Rb2 35. g3 Ra2 36. Be3 Ra3 37. Bf2 Ra2 38. Be3 Ra3 39. Rb1 Ra4 40. Rdd1 b5 41. Rh1 Ra2 42. g4 hxg4 43. Rh7 Rd7 44. Rh8 Bd6 45. Rg1 Ra3 46. Bd2 Ra2 47. Be3 Ra3 48. Bd2 Ra2 {Magnus actually repeated this variation against Ivanchuck in the Blitz, but Ivanchuck chose 8...Be7 rather than 8... Qa5. Do you know why? I think it's because they both found a3!? in that position. ;)} 1/2-1/2 [Event "World Rapid Final"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2012.07.08"] [Round "12"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E21"] [WhiteElo "2837"] [BlackElo "2769"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2012.07.01"] {Some of Magnus' games are a little hard to watch, as he seems to be struggling from very early on. For example, the 2 games that he has played against Ivanchuck are a good example. If we didn't know their ratings, it would be very difficult to guess that white is 2836.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Ne4 5. Qc2 f5 6. g3 b6 7. Bg2 Bb7 8. Nd2 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nd6 10. d5 ( 10. Bxb7 Nxb7 {Fianchetto de caballo!}) 10... Na6 11. O-O O-O 12. Ba3 Qf6 13. e4 f4 $1 {At this point I thought Carlsen was going to lose for sure, mainly because he doesn't play that well in closed positions where he has one or more weaknesses.} 14. Rab1 Rae8 15. Qd3 e5 16. Nb3 Nb8 17. Bxd6 (17. c5 Ba6) 17... Qxd6 18. c5 Qf6 (18... bxc5 19. Nxc5 $1) 19. c4 d6 20. c6 Bc8 21. c5 { Sacrificing a P to open up some lines for his pieces.} (21. f3 fxg3 22. hxg3 Qg5 $17) 21... f3 (21... bxc5 22. Nd2 $44) (21... dxc5 $5) 22. Bh1 Ba6 23. Qe3 Bxf1 24. Rxf1 bxc5 25. Nd2 Na6 26. Qa3 (26. Bxf3 Nb4 {Planning not only ... Nxa2 but also ...Nc2 and then ...Nd4.}) 26... Nb4 27. Qb3 $1 {Planning a3, and black's Knight will be completely out of play on a6.} Rb8 28. Qc4 Qg5 $1 29. Nxf3 Rxf3 $3 {Black's N is going to be incredibly stronger than white's B.} 30. Bxf3 Qd2 31. a3 Nd3 $1 (31... Nc2 32. Qa6 $1 {And it's black who's in trouble here because of his Queenside weaknesses.} (32. Rd1 $2 Nxa3 $1)) 32. Bg4 Rf8 $1 (32... Rb2 $4 {This looks strong, but runs into...} 33. Qa6 $1 {And it's black who's lost!} Nxf2 34. Qc8+ Kf7 35. Qd7+ Kf8 36. Be6 $18) 33. f3 g6 $1 34. Qb5 c4 35. Qb7 Qa5 36. Kg2 Kg7 37. h4 h5 38. Be6 Kh6 39. Kh3 Qd2 (39... Rxf3 $1 40. Rxf3 Qe1 $19) 40. Qxc7 Qe2 41. Qe7 Qxf1+ 42. Kh2 Qf2+ 43. Kh3 Nf4+ 44. gxf4 Qxf3+ 0-1 [Event "World Blitz Final"] [Site "Astana KAZ"] [Date "2012.07.09"] [Round "5"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Ivanchuk, V."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B11"] [WhiteElo "2837"] [BlackElo "2769"] [Annotator "I.M. Javier Gil"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2012.07.01"] {Yes, I'm aware that a blitz game is a bit of a lottery, but even so, some of these games are so poor!} 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 6. d4 dxe4 7. Qxe4 Nf6 8. Qh4 Be7 {8...Qa5!? is the move Dreev tried, as we saw earlier on.} 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. O-O O-O 11. Bg5 g6 12. Bh6 Re8 13. Ne2 e5 14. Bc4 exd4 15. Nxd4 $4 {Blunder. White's losing material.} (15. Qxd4 $142) 15... Nh5 $1 {White's Queen is now kind of trapped. If Qg4 Ne5! en black can't defend his Q, d4 N and c4 B at the same time.} 16. Qe4 (16. Qg4 Ne5) 16... Bf8 {Now white can't defend his h6 B, so he's forced to sacrifice on f7.} 17. Bxf7+ Kxf7 18. Qf3+ Kg8 19. Qb3+ Kh8 20. Be3 Nc5 {Black's a whole piece up.} 21. Qc3 Ne4 22. Qb3 Qb6 23. Qf7 Re7 24. Qf3 Qa5 25. Rfe1 Rae8 26. Nb3 Qf5 $2 { Inaccurate. Now white will take on a7 and he has 2 PP for the piece.} ({ Perhaps this, as the P on a7 can't be taken.} 26... Qc7) 27. Qxf5 gxf5 28. Bxa7 Nf4 29. f3 Ng3 30. Rxe7 Rxe7 31. Bc5 $2 {Another mistake by Carlsen.} (31. Kh2) 31... Re2 $1 {Threatens mate with Rg2.} 32. Bf2 Rxc2 $19 33. Nd4 Rxb2 {Chess engines give black a 4 points advantage at this point.} 34. Rd1 Bc5 35. Kh2 Ngh5 $4 (35... Bd6 $1) (35... Rd2 $5 36. Rxd2 Nf1+ 37. Kg1 Nxd2 $19 38. Nxf5 $2 Ne2+ $19) 36. Nxf5 $1 {Threatening mate on d8. Ivanchuck has lost most of his advantage. The rest of the game can only be eplained by the little time left that both players must have had on the clock.} Kg8 37. Bxc5 Rxg2+ 38. Kh1 Rg5 39. Rd8+ Kf7 40. Rf8+ Ke6 41. Nd4+ Kd5 42. Ba7 c5 43. Nb5 Ng3+ 44. Kh2 Nf1+ 45. Kh1 Ne2 $1 {Threatening mate on g1.} 46. Nc3+ Nxc3 47. f4 Rg7 48. Rf5+ Ke4 49. Rxc5 Nd5 50. Rc4+ Kf3 51. Bd4 Ng3+ (51... Rg2 $1 {Threatening mate with ... Ng3#.}) 52. Kh2 Ne4 $4 53. Bxg7 1-0