[Event "Titled Tuesday Late"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025.03.25"] [Round "7"] [White "Lazavik, Denis"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "D36"] [WhiteElo "3228"] [BlackElo "3251"] [PlyCount "99"] [GameId "2159717058685850"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,99,19,43,8,18,18,16,40,23,32,29,24,33,28,19,27,30,28,33,21,22,29,36,32,26,35,42,55,11,11,40,75,71,-46,62,74,53,45,46,53,95,58,58,80,48,65,75,100,73,133,138,-19,151,137,104,149,136,245,149,149,160,134,64,98,68,1,23,101,44,14,49,7,-9,34,41,103,87,95,118,106,111,262,84,88,98,365,170,354,349,395,255,375,429,503,676,738,743,864,1012,1022,1453] DenLaz vs. MagnusCarlsen, to use their Chess.com handles.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. e3 O-O 7. Nc3 Qe7 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qc2 Re8 12. h3 (12. Rab1 Ne4 13. b4 Ndf6 14. b5 c5 15. dxc5 Nxc5 16. Nd4 Bd7 17. Be2 Rac8 18. Qb2 b6 19. Rfd1 Red8 20. h3 g6 21. a4 Rc7 22. Bf3 Nce4 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24. Nde2 Rdc8 25. Rd4 Qe5 26. Rbd1 Kg7 27. Qb4 Bf5 28. Rd8 Qc5 29. Qxc5 Rxc5 30. Rxc8 Rxc8 31. a5 Be6 32. axb6 axb6 33. Rd6 Bc4 34. Rxb6 Bd3 35. Rc6 Ra8 36. b6 Ra1+ 37. Kh2 Bxe2 38. b7 Nd7 39. Rc7 Nb8 40. Rc8 Na6 41. Ra8 {1-0 Lazavik,D (2578)-Artemiev,V (2701) RUS-chT Blitz Sochi 2024 (4.1)}) 12... Ne4 13. b4 a6 14. a4 $14 Ndf6 $146 15. b5 c5 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Be2 a5 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. Bf3 Qd6 20. Rfd1 $16 {Everything has gone very smoothly for White. Carlsen may be the GOAT, but he has been seriously outplayed right out of the opening.} Rac8 21. Qb2 b6 22. Rac1 h6 23. Nde2 Qe5 $2 {Carlsen probably thought his 24...Nxa4 trick indirectly protected his d5-pawn, but Lazavik saw further. (Or he got lucky - which does sometimes happen even at the highest levels, though less often than it does for us lesser mortals.)} 24. Bxd5 $1 Nxa4 25. Nxa4 Rxc1 26. Nxc1 Nxd5 27. Qxe5 Rxe5 {Now White would have to scrape for a draw with 28.Nd3 Re4 29.Ndc5, or even just lose, were it not for} 28. f4 $1 $18 {. Suddenly it's clear that Black is losing a piece. Still, he gets a couple of pawns for it, and with the limited material on the board the result isn't yet completely clear.} Nxe3 29. Rxd7 Rxb5 30. Rd8+ (30. Kf2 $142) 30... Kh7 31. Rd3 $2 (31. Kf2) 31... Rb1 32. Rxe3 Rxc1+ $11 {Now is *should* be a draw, but there are no guarantees in blitz.} 33. Kf2 b5 34. Nc3 b4 35. Na4 Ra1 36. Nc5 Ra2+ 37. Re2 Rxe2+ {Not necessary, but with only a one-second increment Carlsen may have wanted to keep things as simple as possible.} 38. Kxe2 Kg6 39. Kf3 f5 $2 {Immobilizing his own king. Now White wins easily.} (39... h5 $11) 40. Ke3 Kh5 41. g3 {Forced, but obvious, and not a move that Carlsen would have overlooked.} g5 42. Kd4 $1 {This is probably what Carlsen underestimated.} gxf4 43. gxf4 Kh4 44. Ke5 Kxh3 45. Kxf5 Kg3 46. Ke5 h5 47. f5 h4 48. f6 h3 49. f7 h2 50. Ne4+ (50. f8=Q h1=Q 51. Ne4+ {also wins, as White forces mate unless Black plays 51...Qxe4+ (which will also result in a speedy mate).}) (50. Ne4+ Kg2 51. Nf2 {is presumably why Carlsen resigned, though White wins even more quickly by promoting his pawn. Either way, it's easy work for White, so Carlsen resigned.} Kxf2 52. f8=Q+ Kg2 53. Qg7+ Kf2 54. Qh6 Kg2 55. Qg5+ Kf2 56. Qh4+ Kg2 57. Qg4+ Kf2 58. Qh3 Kg1 59. Qg3+ {Here there's no stalemate trick because Black has the queenside pawns. If Black plays 59...Kf1 White takes on h2 and delivers a speedy mate, while} Kh1 {loses directly to} 60. Qf2 b3 61. Qf1#) 1-0 [Event "Titled Tuesday Late"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025.03.25"] [Round "11"] [White "Duda, Jan Krzysztof"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B41"] [WhiteElo "3172"] [BlackElo "3251"] [PlyCount "77"] [GameId "2159717196676005"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,73,16,25,16,16,29,10,14,21,21,24,21,22,20,22,35,32,15,28,39,41,41,-24,21,3,-2,21,15,-1,32,58,67,-4,20,-1,-97,-27,-133,-15,-55,25,-15,-71,53,86,153,91,160,193,228,36,191,199,-1,247,188,188,-10,96,40,43,39,5,-118,1,-45,8,47,476,353,353,562,655,685,701] Polish_fighter3000 vs. MagnusCarlsen, to use their Chess.com handles.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Qc7 7. a3 b6 8. Be3 Bb7 9. f3 d6 {Now it's time for Duda to castle - sort of.} 10. Rc1 (10. Be2 {followed by 0-0 is what you might expect, and in fact it's the usual way to play this, even by ultra-creative types like Alireza Firouzja.} Nbd7 {That said, the "slow queenside castling" manuever we'll see in the game has been played in this situation as well.} 11. Rc1 Be7 12. Kd2 O-O 13. Kc2 Rfc8 14. Kb1 Ne5 15. g4 Qd8 16. Qf1 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Bxb5 d5 19. g5 Nh5 20. exd5 exd5 21. Qe2 Bxg5 22. Rhg1 Bxe3 23. Qxe3 Ng6 24. Nce2 Qh4 25. Rxc8+ Rxc8 26. Rc1 Rf8 27. Rc7 Bc8 28. Qc3 Qd8 29. a4 Ne5 30. Qc5 Nf6 31. Qe7 Qxe7 32. Rxe7 Nc4 33. Rc7 g5 34. Bxc4 dxc4 35. Rxc4 Bb7 36. Rc5 h6 37. b4 Ra8 38. Nc3 g4 39. fxg4 Ne4 40. Nxe4 Bxe4+ 41. Kb2 Rxa4 42. Kb3 Ra1 43. Re5 Rb1+ 44. Kc3 Bg2 45. b5 Kh7 46. Nb3 Kg6 47. b6 f6 48. Rb5 Rh1 49. Nd4 Rxh2 50. Ne6 Kf7 51. Nf4 Bh1 52. b7 Bxb7 53. Rxb7+ Kf8 54. Kd4 {1-0 Van Foreest,J (2714)-Hansen,E (2606) Oslo Esports Cup rapid 2022 (2.2)}) 10... Nbd7 11. Kd2 $5 {A very cool idea! Duda has played it before, and before that it was played by an FM(?) called Zakaryan and before that by Jorden Van Foreest in a very similiar position - see the previous note. It's entirely possible that Van Foreest wasn't the first player to do this in this line of the Kan Sicilian, but it's quite rare in any case. Rare - and interesting.} Be7 (11... h5 12. Kc2 Rc8 13. Kb1 Be7 14. Be2 Qb8 15. g3 Ne5 16. h3 Nfd7 17. Qf1 Nc5 18. f4 Ned7 19. Bf3 Nf6 20. Nd5 exd5 21. exd5 b5 22. cxb5 O-O 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. bxc6 Nfe4 25. Qc4 Bf6 26. Rc2 Nxg3 27. Rg1 Nf5 28. Bf2 Rfe8 29. Ka2 Ne3 30. Bxe3 Rxe3 31. Bxh5 Re4 32. Qf1 Qb3+ 33. Kb1 Nd3 34. Qg2 Re1+ 35. Rxe1 Nxe1 36. Qe4 Nxc2 37. Qxc2 Qxh3 38. Be2 Qh1+ 39. Qd1 Qe4+ 40. Qd3 Qxf4 41. Qxa6 Rb8 42. b4 Qe4+ 43. Qd3 Qe5 44. Kc2 Qb2+ 45. Kd1 Qa1+ 46. Kc2 Qa2+ 47. Kd1 Re8 48. b5 Qa1+ 49. Kc2 Qb2+ 50. Kd1 Bc3 51. Qc2 Qxa3 52. c7 Qa1+ 53. Qc1 Qa4+ 54. Qc2 Qxc2+ 55. Kxc2 Ba5 56. Bg4 Bxc7 57. Kd3 Bb6 58. Bd7 Re5 59. Kd2 f5 60. Be6+ Kf8 61. Kd3 Ke7 62. Kd2 Kf6 63. Kd3 g5 64. Kd2 g4 65. Kd3 f4 66. Kd2 g3 {0-1 Duda,J (2734)-Salinas Herrera,P (2494) Titled Tuesday intern op 07th May Late Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (3)}) (11... g6 {followed by ...Bg7 is the engine's suggestion, and then looking to blow the board open with a well-timed ...d5. It seems that Black is okay here, but not in the game, so perhaps Van Foreest got it right, waiting until Black played ...Be7 before playing Kd2.}) 12. Kc2 O-O (12... Ne5 13. Kb1 Rc8 14. g4 Qb8 15. g5 Nfd7 16. b3 Nc5 17. h4 O-O 18. h5 Rfe8 19. g6 hxg6 20. hxg6 Nxg6 21. Rc2 Nd7 22. Rch2 Ndf8 23. f4 f5 24. Qh5 Kf7 25. Nxe6 Nxe6 26. exf5 Nef8 27. fxg6+ Ke6 28. Bh3+ Kf6 29. Bd4# {1-0 Zakaryan,D (2296)-Mukhtarova,A (1835) Kerkinitida Cup Rapid Evpatoria 2023 (2)}) 13. g4 Ne5 14. Kb1 $16 {/+- White's king is very safe, and he enjoys both a massive space advantage and a budding kingside attack. Black is already in serious trouble.} Rac8 15. g5 Nfd7 16. h4 {This is a standard idea, going for h5 and then g6. Still, it was better to chase the knight.} (16. f4 $1 Nc6 (16... Nxc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Nd5 exd5 {Getting to here wouldn't have been tough for Duda, who may well have assessed the position after 19.Rxc4 dxc4 as fine for Black. That assessment is correct, but White has something better.} 19. b3 $3 Qc5 20. Nf5 $1 Qxa3 21. Nxe7+ Kh8 22. Nxc8 Bxc8 23. Rc3 $1 dxe4 24. Qd4 $18 {Despite Black's (small) material plus, White is winning thanks to his dominant pieces.}) 17. Rg1 Nxd4 18. Bxd4 e5 19. fxe5 dxe5 20. Be3 Bc5 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. cxd5 Qd6 23. Rg3 $16 {/+- Black's position is lousy but still defensible.}) 16... Qb8 17. h5 ({The engine thinks White should keep the c-pawn, even at the cost of a tempo and the need to place the knight on an unsightly square on the edge of the board.} 17. Na4 $142 $16) (17. Na2 $142 $16) 17... Nxc4 18. Bxc4 (18. Bf4 $1) 18... Rxc4 19. g6 Bf6 $15 {Black's extra pawn outweighs White's attack - at least in a classical game. In blitz? Maybe not.} 20. gxf7+ (20. h6 {is also attractive (and typical).}) 20... Rxf7 (20... Kxf7 $142) 21. h6 g6 (21... Bxd4 $142 22. Bxd4 g6 $11) 22. Nxe6 $16 {White is back on top - and should be with the knight on e6, Black's weak d-pawn, and the coffin nail pawn on h6.} Bxc3 $2 23. Ng5 $3 $18 {Not the only move to give White a big, even winning advantage, but it's best.} Re7 24. Qb3 $1 d5 25. Rxc3 b5 26. Rd1 Qc7 27. Qb4 $1 {It's such a good feeling to find and make moves like this, and especially impressive to do so in blitz.} Ne5 28. Rxc4 (28. Bb6 $1 {was a chance to show off even further.} Qd7 29. Rxc4 bxc4 30. Bc5 Re8 31. Qc3 $18) 28... Nxc4 29. Bd4 dxe4 30. fxe4 $2 {A serious error of a kind that is easily forgiven in blitz.} (30. b3 $18) 30... Bxe4+ $14 31. Ka1 (31. Ka2 $142) 31... Bf5 (31... Qd8 $1 {A great move, but who's going to play this in blitz?}) 32. Bf6 Re8 33. Qc3 {Black's position remains precarious.} Re3 $4 {Weakening the back rank costs Black two tempi, and he can't afford that.} (33... Qc5 $1 34. Bh8 (34. Ka2 Qe3 $11) 34... Qf8 $11) 34. Qd4 {Threatening 35.Qd8+ with a speedy mate.} Re8 35. Qd5+ Be6 (35... Kf8 36. Bg7+ Ke7 37. Qf7#) 36. Nxe6 Qf7 37. Ng5 {White is up a piece for nothing.} Qxd5 38. Rxd5 Rf8 39. Bg7 1-0