[Event "Chessable Masters Prelim"] [Site "chess24.com INT"] [Date "2022.05.21"] [Round "12.1"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Wei, Yi"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2864"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [PlyCount "160"] [EventDate "2022.05.19"] [SourceVersionDate "2020.07.21"] {[%evp 0,160,26,-14,-12,-16,19,0,0,-43,-22,-19,-26,-11,-9,-5,-5,2,-4,7,20,10, 16,15,29,-1,15,-5,15,-13,-7,2,27,29,28,-4,64,66,62,131,62,87,56,73,65,27,65,74, 59,71,75,84,85,78,84,72,69,77,80,70,76,75,122,79,81,44,46,67,73,68,61,42,119, 95,98,113,123,123,122,118,193,186,194,201,195,195,210,216,193,193,223,260,276, 108,104,100,100,100,100,104,172,174,180,187,187,187,218,203,185,203,191,192, 195,96,108,96,96,96,96,104,221,216,221,233,222,287,287,265,287,287,287,287,287, 287,287,287,287,100,287,88,100,24,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]} 1. h4 {There are more than 1200 games with this in the database(!), though I would guess that most of them (at least when involving professional players) were played online.} d5 2. d4 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. c4 {This is an interesting idea, going for a Reverse Tarrasch. In the traditional main line of the Tarrasch, White - here, Black - fianchettoes the kingside bishop. With the pawn on h4, however, the possibility of a quick h5 may well spice things up.} e6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. a3 a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. b4 Be7 (8... Ba7) 9. Bb2 dxc4 (9... O-O) 10. Qxd8+ Bxd8 11. Bxc4 b5 12. Bd3 $14 {White's first move may not be particularly useful, but (a) it isn't hurting him and (b) his overall coordination is superior. White has an edge, despite 1.h4.} O-O 13. Nbd2 Be7 14. Ke2 Bb7 15. Rhc1 Rfc8 16. Nb3 Nd7 17. Rc2 Bd8 $2 (17... Nd8 $14 {/=}) 18. Rd1 $16 {/+- Threatening Bxh7+, for starters. Black is in serious trouble, and to add to his woes Carlsen still had the 15 minutes he started with, while Wei Yi had used around half his time.} Rc7 19. Be4 (19. Rcd2) 19... Nf6 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. g4 (21. Ne1) 21... Rac8 22. h5 h6 $6 {Of course Black wants to play this, not allowing White to fix the pawn on h7 after h5-h6, but it was more important to take advantage of an exchanging possibility.} (22... Nd4+ $1 23. Nfxd4 Bxe4 24. Rxc7 Bxc7 $16) 23. Nfd2 $1 (23. Ne1 $1 $18 {may be even better.}) 23... Ne5 24. Rxc7 Rxc7 25. Bxb7 Rxb7 26. Nf3 $1 Be7 27. Nxe5 fxe5 28. Rc1 $16 {/+-} Kg7 29. Rc6 Ra7 30. Kf3 Bd8 31. Ke4 $2 (31. Nc5) (31. Rc8) 31... a5 $1 $14 {Now Carlsen has to win the game all over again. Carlsen being Carlsen, he does.} 32. Nc5 axb4 33. axb4 Ra2 34. Nd3 Rd2 35. Rc3 Bf6 $2 (35... Be7 $14) 36. f3 $6 (36. Rc7 $18 {and Rb7 should do the trick.}) 36... Be7 37. Rc7 Bd6 38. Rb7 Kf6 39. Rxb5 Kg5 40. f4+ $8 (40. Nxe5 $4 f5+ 41. gxf5 exf5# {would be embarrassing. }) 40... Kxg4 41. fxe5 $1 $18 (41. Nxe5+ $2 Bxe5 42. Kxe5 Rd3 43. e4 Re3 $11 { will lead to many pawn exchanges (...f5 is next) and a draw.}) 41... Be7 42. Rb7 Rc2 43. Kd4 (43. Rxe7 $4 {is inadvisable.} Rc4#) 43... Bg5 44. Rxf7 Re2 45. Nf4 Rb2 46. Nxe6 Rxb4+ 47. Kc5 Re4 48. Kd5 Rxe3 49. Nxg5 Kxg5 50. e6 Kxh5 51. Rg7 $1 {The only winning move. It might seem as if it's all over, but the win isn't as obvious as you may think; indeed, Carlsen himself was unable to solve the problem. Can you do better?} Kh4 52. e7 h5 53. Kd6 Rd3+ 54. Ke6 Re3+ 55. Kf7 Rf3+ 56. Kg8 Re3 57. Kf8 Rf3+ 58. Rf7 Re3 {To judge by the time he spent here, it was only now that Carlsen realized that the straightforward approach wouldn't work. He tried to find something else, but didn't manage and conceded the draw.} 59. Rg7 $1 (59. e8=Q $2 {is essentially what we'll see in move 70.}) 59... Rf3+ 60. Kg8 (60. Ke8 Kh3 (60... Rf1 61. Rg6) 61. Rg5 h4 (61... Kh4 62. Rg6 Kh3 63. Kd7 Rd3+ 64. Rd6 Re3 65. Re6 Rd3+ 66. Kc6 Rc3+ 67. Kd5 $18) 62. Kd7 Rf7 63. Ke6 Rxe7+ 64. Kxe7 Kh2 65. Ke6 h3 66. Ke5 Kh1 67. Kf4 h2 68. Kg3 Kg1 69. Kh3+ (69. Re5 {leads to a faster mate, but forces White to figure out how to trap the knight. It's not so difficult, but when playing off the increment it's not a bad idea to win the pawn instead.} h1=N+ 70. Kf3 Kh2 71. Rg5 $1 { is the trick: zugzwang to the rescue.}) 69... Kh1 70. Ra5 $18) 60... Re3 61. Kf7 Rf3+ 62. Kg6 Re3 63. Kf5 Re1 64. Kf6 Rf1+ 65. Ke6 Re1+ 66. Kf7 Rf1+ 67. Kg8 (67. Ke8 $1) 67... Re1 68. Kf8 Rf1+ 69. Rf7 Re1 70. e8=R $2 {Calling it a day, but the win was still there.} (70. Rg7 Rf1+ 71. Ke8 $1 $18) 70... Rxe8+ 71. Kxe8 Kg3 72. Rg7+ Kf3 73. Rh7 Kg4 74. Ke7 h4 75. Ke6 h3 76. Ke5 Kg3 77. Ke4 h2 78. Ke3 Kg2 79. Ke2 h1=Q 80. Rxh1 Kxh1 1/2-1/2