Opening: Ruy Lopez
Title: Beast Mode On! – Nakamura vs Carlsen | Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Grand Final
Hello Chess Friends and Welcome to the Channel. Luckily for us, The Grand Final of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour between Carlsen and Nakamura is more exciting than ever. Yesterday’s match was decided at the blitz tiebreaks by an outstanding game that I’m really glad to show you. Nakamura with the white pieces and Carlsen with Black in a 5 minute blitz game. let’s get started.
[Event “2020-magnus-carlsen-chess-tour-kiva-fin”]
[Site ”
[Date “2020.08.16”]
[Round “36”]
[White “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1-0”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {the Ruy Lopez.} Nf6 {the Berlin Defense.} 4. d3 Bc5
5. Bxc6 dxc6 {Nakamura and Carlsen already played this variation during the
final and both players won and lost their games.} 6. Nbd2 {the main
continuation} O-O 7. Qe2 {now that the queen is protecting f2, Carlsen really
needs to protect e5} Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 {Nakamura still keeps the option of
castling long on the table. This is an interesting position. What to play now
for Black? Because the Knight can’0t move because is protecting the e5 pawn,}
b5 {with tempo is a natural idea} 10. Ne3 {this is an important moment of the
game. Notice that the bishop is blocking the queenside advancement. That’s why
in my opinion another natural idea is bishop back to f8. Carlsen instead
continues with} Nf8 {a well know idea that moves away the knight as soon as
white lost some pressure against e5. But I prefer white, Black’s pieces are
too passive. nakamura immediately pushes on the kingside} 11. h4 {this is the
critical moment of the game. Carlsen plays} Ne6 {a move already played in 2018
between two international masters, but I don’t think that Carlsen studied this
game. What is the idea? The idea is that there are two strong outposts for the
Knight and from both of them , the white queen goes under attack. THe problem
is that the knight is interfering with the rook so that white can capture the
pawn on e5. But is it safe to do so? Carlsen probably thinks that it’s a
mistake to capture. But Nakamura immediately captures} 12. Nxe5 {and Carlsen
begins to think. Is is possible to punish this knight, undefended, under the
x-ray attack of the rook? It’s not! Let’s watch what happens after} a5 {
After a5 Nakamura can also capture two more pawns beginning with Nxc6 but he
prefers a more elegant idea} (12… Nd4 13. Nxf7 Qf6 14. Qh5 {with advantage
for white because the desperate sacrifice} Nxc2+ 15. Nxc2 Qxf2+ {doesn’t work}
16. Kd1 Qxg2 {looks winning but there is a check that will win the game for
white} 17. Nh6+ {the king can’t move or is checkmate} gxh6 18. Qxe8+ Bf8 {
and now?} 19. Ne3 {attacks the queen first} Qxh1+ {wins both rooks} 20. Kc2
Qxa1 21. Bb4 {and white will give checkmate. That’s why Carlsen understands
that is not possible to punish Nakamura’s capture and continues on the
queenside with a5}) 13. Qh5 {with the Black queen still on d8, Nakamura’s
queen is dominant. That’s why before instead of a5, it was better Qd6 or even
better Qf6} g6 14. Qf3 {same threat} f6 15. Nxc6 Qd7 {there is still Nxa5 but
Naka is in Beast Mode and sacrifices the knight} 16. Qxf6 Qxc6 17. Bc3 {
even stronger is Ng4} Rf8 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxh7+ Ke8 20. Qxg6+ Kd7 {and here
comes the final blow} 21. d4 {with the idea of opening the d-file} b4 (21…
Nxd4 22. Qg7+ Ke8 23. Bxd4 Bxd4 24. Qxd4 {and Black can resign because white
will castle logn and is 4 pawns up}) 22. dxc5 {Carlsen resigns} bxc3 23. O-O-O+
Ke7 24. Nd5+ {the Black must move back} Kd8 25. Nb4+ {and the queen is lost.}
1-0
With this fantastic attacking game Nakamura won the third minimatch and is leading the final 2 to 1. I really enjoyed this game and if you also did, please don’t forget to like the video and to subscribe to the channel. For now, thank you very much for watching and see you tomorrow with a new game. Goodbye
Photos by:
Lennart Ootes
FIDE Master and Professional Photographer
You can follow him here:
@LennartOotes
