11th Norway Chess 2023 R4: Gukesh draws Classical against Carlsen

by Shahid Ahmed
6/4/2023 – Earlier this year, he drew against the world no.1 at 85th Tata Steel Masters 2023. Yesterday D Gukesh drew his second Classical rated game ever against Magnus Carlsen, but lost the Armageddon. Fabiano Caruana scored the sole Classical victory of the round, with black against Alireza Firouzja. All photos in this article are by Lennart Ootes/Norway Chess unless stated otherwise.

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Four games of Round 4 required Armageddon. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov defeated D Gukesh, Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Armageddon deciders, while Wesley So drew against Aryan Tari with the black pieces, winning his match. Here is five hours of full live commentary by ChessBase India:

The interactive commentary is provided by Amruta Mokal, who is naturally quite passionate in her coverage of the Gukesh-Carlsen game. Here's an example from the Armageddon game – watch her coverage of the rest of the very dangerous endgame for an impression of truly animated live chess commentary! 

Gukesh - Carlsen: 1-1.5

D Gukesh (2732) has played only one Classical rated game against Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2853). It was earlier this year at the 85th Tata Steel Masters 2023 and ended in a draw. This time also the result was same. The game was far from easy. Gukesh had a clear advantage in the middlegame, after which a queen endgame after the 30th move it lasted for another 52 moves of fight, where the players tried to one up each other.

This is the engine evaluation during the game: White was clearly better until move 25, then Carlsen took over and started to press, while Gukesh defended very well for a draw. The intensely fought queen ending lasted more than 50% of the entire game.

Note that in the game below you can click (or tap) on the notation to get a replay board, which you can resize and replace, with full engine access (fan button)  

Gukesh D2732½–½Carlsen, Magnus2853Carlsen
GM11th Norway Chess 2023
Stavanger03.06.2023
GM
1.e4 8 e5 10 2.Nf3 10 Nc6 5 3.Bc4 10 Nf6 9 4.d3 6 Bc5 51 5.c3 9 d6 20 6.Bg5 8 h6 1:19 7.Bh4 6 a5 4:29 C54: Giuoco Piano: 4 c3 Nf6, main lines with 5 d4 and 5 d3. 8.0-0 12 Bd7 6:27
8...0-0 is becoming the main line. 9.Na3N 12 Predecessor: 9.Re1 Ba7 10.Nbd2 g5 11.Bg3 Ne7 12.d4 Ng6 13.dxe5 dxe5 14.Nf1 Qe7 15.Ne3 9...Bxa3 4:17 10.bxa3 11 0-0 56 11.Rb1 19:20 Rb8 28 12.Bb5 1:46 Be6 15:26 13.d4 8:02 Bg4 12:05 14.Bxc6 2:55 14.h3 feels hotter. Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Qe7 16.Rbe1 14...bxc6 7 15.dxe5 21 aiming for Rxb8. Bxf3 5:59 16.Rxb8 16 Qxb8 10 17.Qxf3 9 Nd7 6 18.exd6 54 cxd6 2 19.Qe2 12:50 Re8 1:29 20.Bg3 2:49 20.f3 with more complications. d5 21.Qd1 Qb5 22.Re1 20...Nf6 2:14 21.f3 4:04 Nh5! 1:29 22.Bf2 2:35 d5 15 23.Qa6 5:12 dxe4 4:38 24.fxe4 36 24.Qxc6? perishes. e3 25.Bh4 Nf4 24...Nf6 2:57 25.Qxc6 6:59 Nxe4 7:32 26.Be3 11:09 Ng3 10:54
Discovered Attack 27.Re1 2:11 Re6 26 28.Qd5 3:13 28.Qf3!? Ne4 29.Rc1= 28...Qe8 10:19 29.hxg3 1:21 Rxe3 1:12 30.Rxe3 5 Qxe3+= 16 Endgame KQ-KQ 31.Kh2 8 Qxc3 8 32.Qd8+ 34 Kh7 2 33.Qd7 48 f6 1:41 34.Qf5+ 4:07 Kh8 7 35.a4 42 Qe5 39 36.Qc8+ 7:45 Kh7 5 37.Qc2+ 3 Kg8 1:57 38.Qc4+ 2:32 Kf8 11 39.Qc8+ 1:18 Kf7 32 40.Qd7+ 0 Kg6 0 41.Qd3+ 10:22 Qf5 9:55 42.Qb5 14 h5 30 43.Qe8+ 2:48 Kh7 0 44.Qb5 0 Qe5 0 45.Kh3 55 Kh6 9 46.Kh2 21 g5 2:05 47.Kh3 1:19 Qe1 1:47 48.Kh2 0 Against Qh1+ h4 2 49.gxh4 0 Qxh4+ 0 50.Kg1 0 Qe1+ 2 51.Kh2 0 g4 11 ...Qh4+ is the strong threat. 52.Qc6 6:25 Kg5 1:12 53.Qb6 0 53.Qc4= keeps the balance. 53...Qd2 5:55 53...Qe5+ 54.g3 Qe2+ 55.Kg1 Qd1+ 56.Kg2 Qxa4 57.Qc5+ Kg6 54.Qc5+ 28 The position is equal. Kg6 2:46 55.Kg3 0 Wards off Qf4+ f5 38 56.Qe5 0 Qd3+ 1:01 57.Kh2 0 Qd8 0 58.Kg3 0 Qd3+ 32 59.Kh2 0 Qe4 0 60.Qxa5 8 Qf4+ 0 61.Kg1 0 Qd4+ 5 62.Kh2 28 Qf4+ 19 63.Kg1 0 g3 8 64.Qe1 0 Prevents Qc1. Qd4+ 0 65.Kf1 0 Qf4+ 0 66.Kg1 0 Kf7 0 67.a5 0 Qd4+ 0 68.Kf1 0 f4 0 69.a6! 0 Qd3+ 0 70.Kg1! 0 But not 70.Qe2? Qb1+ 71.Qe1 Qxa2 70...Qh7 0 ( -> ...Qh2+) 71.a7! 0 Qh2+ 0 72.Kf1 0 Qh1+ 0
Deflection 73.Ke2 0 Qxg2+ 0 74.Kd1! 0 Qb7 1 75.Qe5 0 g2 1 76.Qxf4+ 0 Ke6 0 77.Qe3+ 0 Kd7 0 78.Qd4+ 0 Kc7 0 79.Qc5+ 1 Kd7 0 80.Qd4+ 0 Kc7 0 81.Qc5+ 0 Kd7 0 82.Qd4+ 0 Weighted Error Value: White=0.06 (flawless) /Black=0.05 (flawless)
½–½

The Armageddon was a chaotic encounter which saw Gukesh sacrificing his queen in a must-win game.

Gukesh-Carlsen Armageddon
Position after 26...Ra2

Guess what Gukesh did. He did sacrifice his queen! 27.Qxa2 Qxa2 28.Nxd7 Rd8 29.Nf6+ Kf7 30.e5 Qd2 31.f3 Qxb4 and Black eventually went on to win the game after Gukesh blundered his knight (full game in the replay board below). Nevertheless, it was a thrilling encounter and Gukesh played really well. Once again he showed that he is ready to take Carlsen in any format of the game.

Gukesh played fantastic chess against Magnus Carlsen in both Classical and Armaegeddon

Firouzja - Caruana: 0-1

The last encounter between Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2785) and Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2764) ended in a draw at Superbet Chess Classic last month. Here is the critical position in their round four Norway Chess game:

Firouzja-Caruana, Round four
Position after 22...Rb2

With 22...Rb2 Caruana taunted White into capturing the h8-rook via Qa8+ skewer. Firouzja fell for it. 23.Bd2 Rg8 24.Rf1 would have kept White in the game. 23.Qa8+ Kf7 24.Qxh8 Qxc2 25.Bd2 Qe4+ 26.Kf1 Qd3+ and Black went on to win the game by munching a lot of pawns. Full game in the replay board below.

Fabiano Caruana is ´clearly in a great form

On rest day, 11th Norway Chess 2023 participants had a knitting competition. The players were divided to five teams, and had to design knittable sweaters! 

The winning design was submitted by the team of Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. You can watch the action in a video on the Norway Chess Twitter page.

Here are all the games of Round 4 with automatic ChessBase engine-generated commentary:

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
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1.e4 2 e6 5 2.d4 21 d5 5 3.Nc3 1:19 Nf6 14 4.e5 6 Nfd7 3 5.f4 8 c5 8 6.Nf3 5 Nc6 11 7.Be3 9 cxd4 18 8.Nxd4 9 Qb6 4 9.Qd2 3:19 Qxb2 37 10.Rb1 8 Qa3 6 11.Ncb5 3:15 11.Bb5!? Ndb8 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.0-0= 11...Qxa2 24 C11: French: Classical System: 4 e5 and 4 Bg5 dxe4. 12.Rd1 38 Rb8! 26 13.Nc7+ 30 Kd8 23 Black is better. 14.Ncb5 15 Nc5! 1:22 And now ...Ne4 would win. 15.Bd3 4:47 Nxd3+ 24:30 16.Qxd3 39
16...Bd7!?N 7:36 aiming for ...Nb4. An interesting novelty. 16...a6 simplifies 17.Nc3 Qa5 18.0-0 Ke8 Predecessor: 16...Qa5+ 17.Kf2 Nxd4 18.Bxd4 Bd7 19.Rb1 Rc8 20.Nd6 Bxd6 21.exd6 Qa6 22.Bxg7 Qxd3 17.Nd6 10:57 17.0-0= keeps the balance. 17...Bxd6 47 18.exd6 23 Qc4 3:35 19.Qd2 3:19 f6 8:18 20.Nxc6+ 34:54 bxc6 1:00 21.Qa5+ 23:18 Ke8 4 22.Qxa7 3:44 Rb2 18:04 Dancing on a razor blade. 23.Qa8+ 3:51 23.Rc1 Rf8 24.Rf1 24.Kf2? Rxc2+ 25.Rxc2 Qxc2+ 26.Kg3 Qg6+ 27.Kf2 Qc2+ 28.Kg3 Qg6+ 29.Kf2 Qc2+-+ 23...Kf7-+ 12 24.Qxh8 9 24.Qa7 was the only defense. Rd8 25.Rc1 24...Qxc2 2:38 Weaker is 24...Rxc2 25.Rd2 25.Qxh7? Qe2# 25...Qc3 26.0-0 26.Qxh7? leads to mate. Qxe3+ 27.Kf1 Rc1+       Skewer 26.Ke2 d4 26...Qxe3+ 27.Rdf2= 25.Bd2 11:34 0-0 is the strong threat. Qe4+ 14 26.Kf1 25
26.Kf2 was worth a try. Qxf4+ 27.Ke1 Qe4+ 28.Kf2 Qd4+ 29.Ke1 Qe5+ 30.Kf2 Qf4+ 31.Ke1 Qe4+ 32.Kf2 Qf4+ 26...Qd3+! 10:54 27.Ke1 14
27...c5! 7:53 ( -> ...Bb5) 28.h4? 40 28.Qd8 Qe4+ 29.Kf2 Qxf4+ 30.Ke1 Qh4+ 31.g3 Qe4+ 32.Kf2 Bb5-+ 28.h3 Bb5 29.Kf2 Rxd2+ 30.Rxd2 Qxd2+ 31.Kg3 Qe3+       Deflection 32.Kh2 Qxf4+ 33.Kg1 Qxd6 34.Qxh7 28...Bb5 9:55 Black is clearly winning. 29.Kf2 6 Rxd2+ 17 30.Rxd2 6 Qxd2+ 2 Endgame KQR-KQB 31.Kg3 36 Qe3+ 5 Deflection 32.Kh2 5 Qxf4+ 3 33.Kg1 1:01 Qd4+ 1:38 34.Kh2 2 Qxh4+ 13 35.Kg1 4 Qd4+ 6 36.Kh2 3 Qe5+ 13 37.Kg1 5 Qxd6 12 White must now prevent ...c4. 38.Rxh7 54 Qf8 10 A cool game by Caruana. Weighted Error Value: White=0.50/Black=0.14 (very precise)
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Firouzja,A2785Caruana,F27640–1202311th Norway Chess 20234.1
Giri,A2768Nakamura,H2775½–½202311th Norway Chess 20234.1
Mamedyarov,S2738Abdusattorov,N2731½–½202311th Norway Chess 20234.1
Gukesh D2732Carlsen,M2853½–½202311th Norway Chess 20234.1
Tari,A2642So,W2760½–½202311th Norway Chess 20234.1
Giri,A2768Nakamura,H27750–1202311th Norway Chess 20234.2
Mamedyarov,S2738Abdusattorov,N27311–0202311th Norway Chess 20234.2
Gukesh D2732Carlsen,M28530–1202311th Norway Chess 20234.2
Tari,A2642So,W2760½–½202311th Norway Chess 20234.2

Link: Tournament page of Norway Chess


Shahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.

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