[Event "8th Norway Chess 2020"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2020.10.15"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2728"] [BlackElo "2863"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "138"] [EventDate "2020.10.05"] {[%evp 0,138,26,34,25,-17,9,8,17,-17,7,2,2,-17,38,42,67,71,68,0,0,21,10,12,13, 0,0,0,-6,-11,-12,-1,-10,-7,-13,-13,22,8,22,3,1,-11,-11,-5,-5,-17,-13,-17,-13, -16,-28,-27,-22,-23,-11,-20,-18,-25,-13,-15,-9,-9,-9,-18,-1,-38,-14,-71,-75, -62,-66,-66,-82,-89,-50,-46,-61,-66,-66,-69,-68,-4,0,0,0,0,61,-73,-71,-70,-61, -91,-90,-83,-92,-97,-84,-80,-82,-105,-70,-82,-82,-105,-112,-62,-45,-46,-52,-58, -70,-71,-71,-69,-49,-69,-69,-69,-70,-70,-71,-65,-68,-130,-156,-148,-148,-130, -130,-130,-130,-130,-4,-130,-130,-130,-130,-130,-130,-754,-1011]} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. e4 d6 6. c3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Bg4 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3 Bg7 11. h3 (11. Qa4 $14) (11. Be3 $14) 11... Bxf3 12. Qxd8+ Rxd8 13. Bxf3 O-O 14. Kg2 Nd4 15. Bg5 (15. Rd1) 15... h6 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. Nd5 Rd6 $11 18. Rac1 Bd8 19. Rfd1 Kg7 20. Ne3 Ra6 21. a3 h5 22. Nc4 Bf6 23. h4 Rc8 24. Ne3 Rac6 25. Rxc6 Rxc6 26. Rd3 Bd8 27. Bd1 Rc1 28. Bb3 b5 29. Rd1 Rc8 30. Ba2 a5 31. Rd3 a4 32. Kf1 (32. Rd1 $11) 32... Bb6 33. Rc3 $2 (33. Bd5) (33. Rd2) 33... Rxc3 34. bxc3 Nb3 35. Ke1 Bc5 36. Nc2 Nc1 $2 {Tempting, but this lets White off the hook.} (36... f5 $17) 37. Bd5 Nd3+ 38. Ke2 Nxf2 39. Bc6 $11 f6 40. Ne3 Nh1 41. Nf1 Bxa3 42. Bxb5 Bb2 43. Bxa4 Bxc3 {With opposite-colored bishops and all the pawns on the same side of the board, the position is objectively drawn. Of course, Carlsen will try, and does.} 44. Kf3 Bd4 45. g4 hxg4+ 46. Kxg4 Nf2+ 47. Kf3 Kh6 48. Ng3 Nd3 49. Be8 Nf4 50. Ne2 Ne6 51. Bf7 Nc5 52. Ng3 Bc3 53. h5 Be1 54. Bxg6 Bxg3 55. Kxg3 Kg5 56. Kf3 Nb3 57. Bf7 Nd4+ 58. Kg3 Ne2+ 59. Kf3 Nf4 60. Kg3 Nxh5+ 61. Bxh5 (61. Kf3 Kh4 {is drawn, but with more pieces on the board Black has more ways to try to trick White. Of course he shouldn't succeed, but with White more or less living off of the increment, Black has more chances to be tricky here than in the pawn ending.}) (61. Kh3 { may make even more sense, if White is going to move the king, as Black's king can't make progress while the knight is hanging, and once the knight moves the king returns to g3.}) 61... Kxh5 {From here the play is stupendously simple: just copy what Black does, and maintain the opposition, whether direct or distant.} 62. Kh3 Kh6 63. Kh4 (63. Kh2 {would follow the foregoing advice, but there's nothing wrong with Firouzja's move.}) 63... Kg7 64. Kg3 Kf8 65. Kf2 Ke7 66. Ke2 {This doesn't hurt anything - Ke~ draws - but why do this?} (66. Ke3 Ke6 67. Ke2 $11) 66... Ke8 67. Ke3 Kd7 68. Kd3 Kd6 69. Kc3 $4 {Huh?} (69. Kd2 { is the only move, but to anyone who has seen any of the 26 trillion endgame books that discuss the idea of distant opposition, it isn't exactly a hard move to find. Errare humanum est.} Kc6 70. Kc2 Kc5 71. Kc3 Kc6 72. Kc2 ({or} 72. Kc4 {, but there's no sense in being clever. Just follow the pattern.}) 72... Kd7 73. Kd1 (73. Kd3) 73... Ke6 74. Ke2 Kf7 75. Kf1 (75. Kf3) 75... Kg6 76. Kg2 Kh5 77. Kh3 Kg5 78. Kg3 {etc. As I said, it's mind-numbingly simple.}) (69. Kc4 $4 {makes more sense than Firouzja's move, but it's also irrational and losing:} Ke6 70. Kd3 Kf7 $1 (70... f5 $4 71. exf5+ Kxf5 72. Ke3 {is the elementary draw White is headed for. For those who are new to the game, here's how play might finish:} e4 73. Ke2 Kf4 74. Kf2 e3+ 75. Ke2 Ke4 {The critical moment. In this situation, White must know the only move. As we all learn early in our chess lives, sometimes through painful experience, the king must go straight back, to obtain the opposition by stepping in front of Black's king whichever way it advances.} 76. Ke1 $1 (76. Kf1 $4 Kf3 {Now it's Black who gains the opposition, and White loses.} 77. Ke1 e2 78. Kd2 Kf2 $19) (76. Kd1 $4 {loses in essentially the same way:} Kd3 77. Ke1 e2 78. Kf2 Kd2 $19) 76... Kd3 (76... Kf3 77. Kf1 e2+ 78. Ke1 Ke3 $11) 77. Kd1 e2+ 78. Ke1 Ke3 $11) 71. Ke3 Kg6 72. Kf3 Kh5 73. Kg3 Kg5 74. Kf3 Kh4 {and Black's king will zigzag its way to the e4-pawn.} 75. Kf2 Kg4 76. Ke3 Kg3 77. Ke2 Kf4 78. Kd3 Kf3 79. Kd2 Kxe4 $19) 69... Kc5 {Obvious, simple, and good. But White's move was so bad that Black had three other winning moves.} (69... Kc7 {also wins, though it's a ridiculous move to make, but}) (69... Ke6) ({and} 69... Ke7 {, headed for g6 as in the 68.Kc4 variation considered above, will lead inevitably to the win of White's e-pawn.} 70. Kd3 (70. Kc4 Kf7 71. Kd5 Kg6 72. Ke6 Kg5 73. Kf7 Kf4 (73... f5 $19) 74. Kxf6 Kxe4 $19) 70... Kf7 71. Ke3 Kg6 72. Kf3 Kh5 73. Kg3 Kg5 $19 {etc.}) (69... Kc5 70. Kd3 Kb4 71. Kd2 Kc4 72. Ke3 Kc3 73. Ke2 Kd4 74. Kf3 Kd3 $19) 0-1