Chessable Masters: Nakamura knocks out Carlsen

by Klaus Besenthal
4/7/2023 – Division I of the Chessable Masters saw the losers’ bracket semifinal taking place on Thursday, a match that Magnus Carlsen won by a 2-0 score against Levon Aronian. So Carlsen moved on to the losers’ final, where Hikaru Nakamura, who had lost the winners’ bracket final to Fabiano Caruana, was already waiting for him. Carlsen and Nakamura drew twice before Carlsen lost the final Armageddon game — following an unfortunate mouse-slip. In the Grand Final, Nakamura will once again face Caruana.
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Chessable Masters

Division I

Our in-house endgame expert GM Karsten Müller annotated the dramatic sudden-death game between Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura:

 
Carlsen, Magnus28520–1Nakamura, Hikaru2768
Chessable Masters Div 1 2023
Online06.04.2023[Mueller,Karsten]
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.g3 0-0 7.Bg2 Re8 8.0-0 h6 9.Nd5 Nxd5 10.cxd5 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Qe7 12.Be3 Bd6 13.Rfd1 b6 14.Qd2 a5 15.Rac1 Rb8 16.Bf4 Ba6 17.e4 Bxf4 18.Qxf4 d6 19.Rc3 Qd8 20.Rdc1 Re7 21.h4 Bb5 22.g4 f6 23.g5 fxg5 24.hxg5 Rf7 25.Qg3 hxg5 26.Bh3 Bd7 27.Rxc7 Bxh3 28.Rxf7 Kxf7 29.Qxh3 Qf6 30.Qh7 Rf8 31.Rc7+ Ke8 32.Rc8+ Ke7 33.Rxf8 Kxf8 34.Qh8+ Kf7 35.Qc8 Qe5 36.Qg4 Kg6 37.Kg2 Kf6 38.a4 Ke7 39.Kf3 g6 40.Ke3 Qf6 41.Kd3 Kd8 42.Qg3 Kc7 43.Kc2 Kb7 44.Kb3 Qd4 45.Qxd6 Qd3+ 46.Ka2 Qc4+ 47.Ka3 Qd3+ 48.b3 Qd4 49.Qc6+ Ka7 50.Qc7+ Ka8 51.Qc1
Passed pawns should be pushed, and the queen should be centralised. Queen endings can be very deep, and king safety often plays a central role: 51...g4? Black does not have time for this. The greedy direct 51...Qxf2! draws due to 52.d6 52.Qxg5 Qc5+ 53.Kb2 Qd4+ 54.Kc2 Qxe4+ 55.Kc3 Kb7= 52...Qd4 A strong centralisation. 53.Qc6+ Ka7= and White's king is too open. 52.Qe1! Here the queen belongs behind the passed pawn. Kb7 52...Qe5 53.Ka2 Kb7 54.Qe2 Qh2 55.Qe3 Qh3 56.Qe1 Qd3 57.Kb2 Qd4+ 58.Kc2+- 53.e5 Passed pawns should be pushed. Qxd5 53...Qc5+ 54.Kb2 Qd4+ 55.Ka2 Kc7 56.d6+ Kd8 57.Qe2 Ke8 58.Kb1 Qc3 59.Qb5+ Kf8 60.Qxb6 Qxe5 61.d7 Qf5+ 62.Kc1 Qxd7 63.Qf6+ Ke8 64.Qxg6+ Kf8 65.Qf6+ Kg8 66.Qg5+ Kf7 67.Qh5+ Kf6 68.Qxa5+- 54.e6 Passed pawns should be pushed. Qc5+ 55.Kb2 Qe7 56.Qe4+?
Centralisation is good, but this is not the right square. 56.Qe5! wins as the activation of Black's queen is prevented, e.g. Kc6 57.Kc3 Qb4+ 58.Kc2 Qe7 59.b4 axb4 60.Kb3 g5 61.Kc4 Kb7 62.Qe4+ Kc7 63.Qd5+- 56...Kc7 57.Qe5+?! 57.Qe3!? was a better try, e.g. Qf6+ 58.Kc1 Qa1+ 59.Kc2 Kd6 60.Qxb6+ Ke7 61.Qe3 Qa2+ 62.Kc3 Qb1 63.Qg5+ Kxe6 64.Qxg4+ with practical winning chances. 57...Qd6! The queen must be activated and centralised. 57...Kb7? loses due to 58.Kc3 Kc6 59.Kc2 Qc7 59...Qc5+ 60.Qxc5+ bxc5 61.Kd3 Kd6 62.Kc4+- 60.Qe3 Kd6+ 61.Kd3 Ke7 62.Qg5+ Kxe6 63.Qxg6+ Ke5 64.Qg5+ Ke6 65.Qxg4++- 58.Qg7+ Kc6 59.Qxg6 Qe5+ 60.Ka2 Qe2+ 61.Ka3 Kd6 62.e7+ Kxe7 63.Qf6+?? 63.Qxb6 Qe5!=
with a draw was the logical end of the game. 63...Kxf6 0–1

All games - Divsion I

 
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Division II

In Division II, Nodirbek Abdusattorov won 3-0 against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to reach the Grand Final. Vachier-Lagrave in turn went on to beat Anish Giri in the losers’ bracket, so he will meet Abdusattorov again in the Grand Final.

All games - Divsion II

 
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Division III

In Division III, the Grand Final was played on Thursday. Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei defeated Russia’s Alexey Sarana to claim first place.

Replay all games from Division III at Live.ChessBase.com

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.
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