Generation Cup: Carlsen and Arjun reach the final

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/24/2022 – Magnus Carlsen and Arjun Erigaisi moved on to the final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup after beating Vincent Keymer and Le Quang Liem, respectively. The match between Arjun and Le went to tiebreaks, while Carlsen got a 3-1 victory over Keymer. A 2-set match will decide the winner of the tournament.
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Arjun beats Le in close match

For Arjun Erigaisi, things started well in his semifinal match against Le Quang Liem, as he safely held a draw with black and then won his first game with the white pieces. A draw in game 3 meant Arjun only needed a draw with white to reach the final. But Le is known for his prowess in rapid chess, and managed to score in a must-win situation with the black pieces.

 
Erigaisi Arjun27250–1Le, Quang Liem2728
Julius Baer Generation Cup KO 2022
Online23.09.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Be2 Nf6 5.Nc3 0-0 6.0-0 a6 7.a4 Nc6 8.h3 h6 9.Be3 e6 10.e5 dxe5 11.Nxe5 Ne7 12.Bd3 Nf5 13.Bxf5 exf5 14.Qd2 Kh7 15.Rad1 c6 16.Rfe1 Be6 17.Nd3 g5 18.Nc5 Bc8 19.d5 b6 20.Nb3 c5
A Pirc Defence has given rise to a structure similar to a Caro-Kann Defence (though White certainly doesn't have two knights in that case). The black doubled pawns prove to be surprisingly mobile here as well, while the passed pawn on d5 alone is no guarantee of a big advantage for White. 21.f4?! This advance is not so good. It would have been better to improve the b3-knight first. g4 22.a5 22.h4? Nh5 22...gxh3 23.gxh3 23.axb6 Rg8 was perhaps an alternative. 23...Rg8 24.Kh1 Understandably, the king moves out of the line of fire of the g8-rook. However, better was probably 24.Qf2 Ne4 25.Nxe4 fxe4 26.Kh2 White has a strong bastion - on the dark squares. 24...Ne4 25.Nxe4 fxe4 26.Qh2 26.Qf2 Bxh3 was no longer an option for White. 26...Qh4! But even now you can see that the white defence with 24.Kh1 didn't work. 27.axb6 Bxh3 28.Rg1 Qh5
With a brilliantly played sequence, Le now shows that Black is in control - on the light squares! 29.Nd2 Bd4 30.Bxd4 e3‼ Threatening Qxd5+. 31.Be5 Bg2+! 32.Rxg2 Qxd1+ 0–1

In the ensuing blitz tiebreakers, Arjun won both games to advance to the 2-day final match against Magnus Carlsen. Arjun is in a run of good form and might realistically upset the world champion — he finished clear second in the preliminaries.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Na3 Bxa3 8.bxa3 Bd7 9.Ne5 Bc6 10.Nxc6 Nxc6 11.Bb2 Nd5 12.a4 Qd6 13.Qc1 Rfd8 14.Qxc4 Nb6 15.Qc2 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Qxd4 17.Bxb7 Rab8 18.Bc6 Nc4 19.Bb5 Na3 20.Qxc7 Nxb5 21.axb5 Rxb5 22.a4 Rbd5 23.e3 Qc5 24.Rac1 Qxc7 25.Rxc7 Ra5 26.Rb1 Rxa4 27.Rbb7 Rf8 28.Rxa7 Rxa7 29.Rxa7 g6 30.h4 h5 31.Kg2 Kg7 32.Kg1 Kg8 33.Kg2 Kg7 34.Kg1 Kg8 35.Kg2 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Le,Q2728Erigaisi,A2725½–½2022E06Julius Baer GenCup KO1
Erigaisi,A2725Le,Q27281–02022C53Julius Baer GenCup KO2
Le,Q2728Erigaisi,A2725½–½2022E04Julius Baer GenCup KO3
Erigaisi,A2725Le,Q27280–12022B08Julius Baer GenCup KO4
Le,Q2728Erigaisi,A27250–12022E06Julius Baer GenCup KO5
Erigaisi,A2725Le,Q27281–02022A40Julius Baer GenCup KO6

Carlsen beats Keymer

In the final round of the prelims, Carlsen had defeated Vincent Keymer with the white pieces, but only after surviving a clearly worse position and turning the tables in the endgame. In their semifinal match, Keymer continued to impress his famed opponent. The German star collected draws in the first two, hard-fought games.

But facing Carlsen in a 4-game match is incredibly difficult. The world champion upped the pressure in game 3, when he got a remarkable win after converting a minor-piece endgame a pawn to the good. GM Karsten Müller analysed the instructive ending.

 
Carlsen, Magnus28611–0Keymer, Vincent2693
Julius Baer Generation Cup KO 2022
Online23.09.2022[Mueller,Karsten]
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.c4 Bxf3 4.exf3 c6 5.d4 e6 6.Qb3 Qd7 7.Nc3 Ne7 8.Be3 Nf5 9.Bh3 Nxe3 10.fxe3 Be7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.e4 Nc6 13.0-0-0 Na5 14.Qc2 Qd8 15.exd5 exd5 16.Qf5 0-0 17.Nxd5 Nc6 18.Kb1 Qd6 19.Nxe7+ Nxe7 20.Qe5 Rad8 21.Rhe1 Nc6 22.Qxd6 Rxd6 23.d5 Rfd8 24.Rd2 Nb4 25.Rd4 Nxd5 26.Red1 Kf8 27.Bf1 Ke7 28.Bc4 Ne3 29.Rxd6 Rxd6 30.Re1 Rd1+ 31.Rxd1 Nxd1 32.Kc1 Ne3 33.Bd3 Kd6 34.Kd2 Nd5 35.Bb1 b6 36.Kd3 h6 37.Kd4 Nc7 38.f4 Ne6+ 39.Kc4 Nc7 40.a3 Kc6 41.Ba2 Kd6 42.Kd4 f6 43.Ke4 Ke7 44.Bc4 Kd6 45.Kf5 Ke7 46.Kg6 Kf8 47.g4 Ne8 48.g5 hxg5 49.fxg5 fxg5 50.Kxg5 Nd6 51.Bd5 Ke7 52.Kg6 Kf8 53.h3 Ne8 54.Kf5 Ke7 55.Ke5 Nc7 56.Bf3 Kd7 57.Bg4+ Ke7 58.Bf5 Na6 59.Kd5 Nc5 60.Kc6 Na4 61.b4 Nc3 62.Bd3 Na4 63.Kb7 a5 64.bxa5 bxa5 65.Bc2 Nb2 66.Bb3 Kd6 67.Kb6 a4 68.Bf7 Nd3 69.Kb5 Nf4 70.h4 Ng2 71.h5 Ne3 72.Bg6 Nd1 73.Kxa4 Kc5 74.Kb3 Ne3 75.Kc3 Nc4 76.a4 Nb6 77.Kb3 Nc4 78.Bd3 Ne5 79.Be2 Nc6 80.Kc3 Nd4 81.Kd3 Magnus' king The duel bishop against knight can be deep: Nc6?
The wrong knight road as passive defense does not hold. The active 81...Nf5! draws, e.g. 82.Ke4 82.a5 Ng3 83.a6 Kb6 84.Ke3 Nxh5= 82.Kc3 Ng3 83.Bg4 Ne4+ 84.Kb3 Nd2+ 85.Ka3 Nc4+= 82...Ng3+ 83.Ke3 Kb4 84.Bd1 Nxh5= 82.Ke4 Kd6 83.Bf3 Kc5 84.Be2 Kd6 84...Ne7 is met by 85.Ke5 Ng8 86.Kf5 Nf6 87.h6 gxh6 88.Kxf6+- 85.Kf4 Kc5 86.Kg5 Ne7 87.a5 Kc6 88.a6 Kb6 89.Bc4 Ka7 90.Kf4 Kb6 91.Ke5 Nc6+ 92.Kf5
The right king inroad with two options via e6 and g6. 92...Nd4+ 92...Ne7+ 93.Ke6 g6 94.h6+- 93.Kg6 93.Kg6 Ne6 94.Bxe6 Kxa6 95.Kxg7+- 1–0

Carlsen also won the fourth game, when, like Le, Keymer was forced to score to keep the match going. It was a 41-move battle which featured plenty of imbalances.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 h6 6.Bg2 c6 7.Qb3 Qb6 8.c5 Qxb3 9.axb3 Be7 10.Bf4 Nbd7 11.b4 g5 12.Be3 a6 13.h4 g4 14.Nd2 e5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.b5 Nfd7 17.Nb3 Be6 18.0-0 0-0 19.bxc6 bxc6 20.Bxh6 Rfb8 21.Nd4 Rxb2 22.e4 Bxc5 23.Nxc6 d4 24.Na4 Rc2 25.Nxc5 Nxc6 26.Nxd7 Bxd7 27.e5 Re8 28.Rfd1 Nxe5 29.Rxd4 Bc6 30.Rd6 Bxg2 31.Kxg2 Nf3 32.Rdxa6 Ree2 33.Rf1 Ne1+ 34.Kg1 Nf3+ 35.Kg2 Ne1+ 36.Kg1 Nf3+ 37.Kg2 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2861Keymer,V2693½–½2022D02Julius Baer GenCup KO1
Keymer,V2693Carlsen,M2861½–½2022D37Julius Baer GenCup KO2
Carlsen,M2861Keymer,V26931–02022A07Julius Baer GenCup KO3
Keymer,V2693Carlsen,M28610–12022A15Julius Baer GenCup KO4

Generation Cup 2022

Let our authors show you how Carlsen tailored his openings to be able to outplay his opponents strategically in the middlegame or to obtain an enduring advantage into the endgame.

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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