Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 3 Contents Page Introduction: What Made Magnus 7 1 Carlsen – Harestad, Copenhagen 2003 23 2 Zimmerman – Carlsen, Schwarzacher Open 2003 27 3 Carlsen – Laqua, Schwarzacher Open 2003 31 4 Carlsen – Diamant, Halkidiki 2003 37 5 Carlsen – Stefansson, Aeroflot Festival, Moscow 2004 42 6 Djurhuus – Carlsen, Norwegian Championship 2005 47 7 Carlsen – Predrag Nikolić, Wijk aan Zee 2005 52 8 Brynell – Carlsen, Gausdal Bygger’n Masters 2005 57 9 Jobava – Carlsen, Skanderborg 2005 64 10 Carlsen – Vescovi, Wijk aan Zee 2006 68 11 Agdestein – Carlsen, Norwegian Championship 2006 74 12 Carlsen – Nunn, Youth vs. Experience, Amsterdam 2006 78 13 Carlsen – Ivanchuk, Morelia-Linares 2007 84 14 Carlsen – Aronian, Candidates match, Elista 2007 90 15 Mamedyarov – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2008 97 16 Topalov – Carlsen, Morelia-Linares 2008 103 17 Kramnik – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2008 110 18 Carlsen – Grischuk, Linares 2009 115 19 Anand – Carlsen, Melody Amber (blindfold), Nice 2009 120 20 Carlsen – Topalov, Sofia 2009 125 21 Carlsen – Leko, Nanjing 2009 131 22 Aronian – Carlsen, Melody Amber (blindfold), Nice 2010 137 3 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 4 Contents 23 Carlsen – Bacrot, Nanjing 2010 142 24 Smeets – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2011 147 25 Carlsen – Nakamura, Medias 2011 153 26 Carlsen – Gelfand, Tal Memorial, Moscow 2011 160 27 Carlsen – Nakamura, Wijk aan Zee 2011 166 28 Radjabov – Carlsen, Moscow 2012 171 29 Carlsen – Caruana, Sao Paulo 2012 178 30 Carlsen – Anand, Sao Paolo 2012 184 31 Carlsen – Judith Polgar, London 2012 189 32 Carlsen – Harikrishna, Wijk aan Zee 2013 195 33 Anand – Carlsen, World Championship, Chennai 2013 203 34 Carlsen – Caruana, Shamkir 2014 210 35 Carlsen – Anand, World Championship, Sochi 2014 216 36 Nakamura – Carlsen, Zürich 2014 222 37 Carlsen – Wojtaszek, Olympiad, Tromsø 2014 228 38 Carlsen – So, Sinquefield Cup, St. Louis 2015 233 39 Carlsen – Naiditsch, Baden Baden 2015 240 40 Carlsen – Vachier-Lagrave, Shamkir 2015 245 41 Carlsen – Nakamura, London 2015 251 42 Carlsen – Li Chao, Qatar Masters, Doha 2015 257 43 Anand – Carlsen, Baden – Baden 2015 262 44 Caruana – Carlsen, Sinquefield Cup, St. Louis 2015 269 45 Carlsen – So, Bilbao 2016 276 46 Carlsen – Karjakin, World Championship, New York 2016 282 47 Karjakin – Carlsen, World Championship, New York 2016 289 48 Carlsen – Aronian, Paris Blitz 2016 296 49 Eljanov – Carlsen, Isle of Man Masters, Douglas 2017 300 4 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 5 Contents 50 Carlsen – Ding Liren, St. Louis 2017 305 51 Dreev – Carlsen, World Cup, Tbilisi 2017 310 52 Carlsen – Wojtaszek, Shamkir 2018 315 53 Adhiban – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2018 321 54 Carlsen – Jones, Wijk aan Zee 2018 327 55 van Foreest – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2019 334 56 Carlsen – Rapport, Wijk aan Zee 2019 340 57 Svidler – Carlsen, Baden – Baden 2019 345 58 Vachier-Lagrave – Carlsen, Sinquefield Cup, 2019 351 59 Giri – Carlsen, Zagreb 2019 357 60 Firouzja – Carlsen, Wijk aan Zee 2020 362 Index of Opponents 368 Index of Openings 371 ECO Openings Index 373 Index of Middlegame Themes 375 Index of Endgames 376 5 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 7 Introduction: What Made Magnus As 2020 began Magnus Carlsen 14 “super” speed tournaments celebrated ten straight years before he was 30. as the world’s highest rated “What makes Carlsen different?” player. He held three world is a good question. But a better championship titles, in blitz, one is: How did he make himself rapid and “classical” chess, different? an unprecedented achievement. The simplest answer is that he Within days of the new year he played an extraordinary amount of broke the record for playing more chess and did it long before he than 107 straight games without a was a master. One on-line database, loss. Chessgames.com, contains 1,000 The term “super-tournament” games he played before he was has no precise meaning. But it has 17. come to mean a round robin In contrast, Kasparov played with classical time controls, in his 1,000th game when he was 27 which each player is an elite – and had already been world grandmaster. In recent years the champion for five years, according Sinquefield Cup, Norway Chess, to the same source. Wijk aan Zee and the Gashimov Of course, large numbers of Memorial have become synonymous games, even of a famous player, with super-tournament. are typically missing from Bobby Fischer never won a databases, especially in their super-tournament. Garry Kasparov early years. But the 1,000th game won outright or tied for first place of Fabiano Caruana preserved by in 35 super-tournaments in his Chessgames.com came after nearly-30-year career. His fans he had been competing in said this was further evidence that tournaments for 16 years. Carlsen he was the greatest player in chess did it in half that time. history. Playing a lot doesn’t necessarily But Magnus Carlsen won some teach. What did Carlsen learn 40 super-tournaments, plus another from so much chess? 7 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 23 1 Magnus’ Morphy By the time Carlsen was world champion he had forgotten the way he once played. He discovered this when he tested the app “Play Magnus.” When Carlsen played against the 12-year-old clone of himself, he concluded the app designers got it wrong. “Magnus 12 is only going for king attacks and he has no technique,” he said. “It’s all tactics. That’s not right. That’s not how I played at that stage.” But then Carlsen took another look at games he played when he was 12. That was a shock. “I realized it was right,” he said of the app. At 12 he was tactics-focused, just like “Magnus 12.” This game has his most impressive finish from his early years. He could have played much better, by shifting between queenside pressure and kingside threats. But then we would have never seen his sparkling queen sacrifice. Carlsen – Hans Harestad 11 d4 Ëc7 Copenhagen 2003 12 Ìbd2 Ìc6 Ruy Lopez, Tchigorin Defense (C98) XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+-trk+0 1 e4 e5 9+-wq-vlpzpp0 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 9p+nzp-sn-+0 3 Íb5 a6 9+pzp-zp-+-0 9-+-zPP+-+0 4 Ía4 Ìf6 9+-zP-+N+P0 5 0-0 b5 9PzPLsN-zPP+0 9tR-vLQtR-mK-0 6 Íb3 Íe7 xiiiiiiiiy 7 Îe1 d6 13 d5! 8 c3 0-0 The knight would be offside 9 h3 Ìa5 after 13...Ìa5 14 b3. 10 Íc2 c5 13 ... Ìd8 23 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 42 5 Moscow When 2004 began, Magnus had made a strong impression in big-time chess locations, such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, Budva, Gausdal and Budapest. But when you can do it in Moscow, it is something else. At the 3rd Aeroflot Festival he was dazzling. All nine of his opponents were grandmasters and he scored five wins and a draw against them. One of his victims was Sergey Dolmatov, who was later the chief trainer of the Russian national team. “It was at the very start of the tournament, and I was sitting with some boy,” he recalled. He had not heard of Carlsen and did not expect much of a 13-year-old. But, he said, “I have to say Magnus didn’t leave me any chances.” The same could be said of Carlsen’s next-to-last round opponent. Carlsen – Hannes Stefansson Gambit Declined’s Ragozin Aeroflot Festival, Moscow 2004 Variation (4...d5). Nimzo-Indian Defense, 4 ... c5 Three Knights Variation (E21) 5g3 1 d4 Ìf6 Or into the old main line of the 2 c4 e6 4 e3 Nimzo-Indian, after 5 e3 0-0 3 Ìc3 Íb4 6 Íd3 d5. 5 ... Ìe4 4 Ìf3 6 Ëd3 When Magnus found himself on XIIIIIIIIY the White side of a Nimzo-Indian, 9rsnlwqk+-tr0 he had usually chosen 4 e3. But in 9zpp+p+pzpp0 2003 he began experimenting 9-+-+p+-+0 with 4 Ìf3 and then 4...b6 5 Íg5 and 4...0-0 5 Ëd3. 9+-zp-+-+-0 9-vlPzPn+-+0 The knight move is flexible 9+-sNQ+NzP-0 and may transpose into Queen’s 9PzP-+PzP-zP0 Indian Defense positions (4...b6 9tR-vL-mKL+R0 5 Íg5 Íb7 6 e3) or the Queen’s xiiiiiiiiy 42 Magnus with Headers smaller:soltyonecol.qxd 07/07/2020 19:43 Page 43 Moscow XIIIIIIIIY The variation beginning with 9rsnltr-+k+0 5 g3 was virtually non-existent 9zpp+-+pzpp0 until the 1980s. 9-+-+p+-+0 Then, for many years, the main 9wq-zp-+-+-0 line was 6...cxd4 7 Ìxd4 Ëa5. 9-+P+-+-+0 9+-+-wQ-zP-0 There was published analysis of 9PzP-sNPzPLzP0 8 Ìb3 Ìxc3 9 Íd2 extending 9tR-+-mK-+R0 past move 15. xiiiiiiiiy 6 ... Ëa5 White’s knight is pinned This steers White into slightly (13 0-0?? Ëxd2). That factor calmer and largely unknown appears to win time for an waters. equalizing ...Ìc6-d4. 7 Ëxe4! For instance, 13 a3 Ìc6 14 Îd1 Ìd4 15 0-0 Ëc7 allows Black Carlsen avoids the tepid 7 Íd2 to play ...e5 and develop his Ìxd2, when Black is at least bishop. equal following 8 Ìxd2 cxd4 9 Ëxd4 0-0 or 8 Ëxd2 0-0. He would have a decent middlegame after 16 Ìb3 e5 or 7 ... Íxc3+ 16 b4 e5 17 bxc5 Íg4. 8 Íd2 Íxd2+ 13 Îd1! 9 Ìxd2 0-0 This gambit move may have been a rare young-Magnus Black finds it harder to develop innovation.