Generation Cup: Carlsen overpowers Firouzja

by Klaus Besenthal
9/2/2023 – Magnus Carlsen won the winners’ final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup with a smooth 3-0 victory over Alireza Firouzja. The Norwegian has thus reached the Grand Final set to take place on Sunday. His opponent will be the winner of the losers’ bracket, where Denis Lazavik and Nodirbek Abdusattorov will first play in the semifinals on Saturday; the winner will then face Firouzja.

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Carlen reaches the Grand Final

Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana were eliminated on Friday. Both lost their respective matches in the losers’ bracket, both in Armageddon deciders: So lost to Denis Lazavik, Caruana lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Magnus Carlsen had a 2-0 lead over Alireza Firouzja, which meant the youngster was under pressure to win at all costs in the third game. Things did not go well for the French representative.

Carlsen, Magnus28351–0Firouzja, Alireza2777
Julius Baer Div-1 2023
Online01.09.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 Be7 9.Bd3 c4 10.Be2 b5 11.f5 Nb6 12.fxe6
In this position Firouzja went off the rails when he took back in the wrong way. He was probably even aware of that, but on the other hand, given the necessity to win, it almost didn't matter. 12...fxe6?! This cements a powerful white superiority on the kingside. After 12...Bxe6 13.0-0 0-0 14.Ng5 Bc8= Black can defend with f7-f6. 13.0-0 0-0 He now also castles into this white superiority. But was there an alternative? 14.Ng5 Stronger, for obvious reasons, was to start with 14.a3! 14...Qe8?! With 14...Rf5! Black would have been able to get back on track to some extent here. 15.Rxf5 exf5 16.a3 h6 17.Nh3 g5 White is still in control, but will not get a breakthrough any time soon. 15.Bg4 Here the line 15.Rxf8+ Bxf8 16.Rf1 suggests itself. 15...b4 16.Ne2 Rxf1+ 17.Rxf1 c3 18.bxc3
18...Qg6? This is not possible at all. 18...Nc4 19.Qd3 Qg6± with chances to defend, which Firouzja could not use in his situation. 19.h4 This is also promising. 19.Ng3! wins. For example: Bxg5 Probably the best defence against Bh5. 20.Bxg5 h6 21.Qf4! Qxg5 22.Qf7+ Kh7 23.Be2+- This bishop is really strong - not least because of 12...fxe6. 19...Nc4 20.Qc1 bxc3 21.Nf4 Qh6 22.Ngxe6 Qxh4 23.Nxd5
Fascinating: the knights have completely conquered the black centre. 23...Bd7 24.Bf5 Stronger was 24.Rf4+- 24...Ba3 25.Qe1 25.Qd1! 25...Qxe1 26.Rxe1 Rb8 27.Nxg7 Kxg7 28.Bxd7 Nxe3 29.Nxe3 Nxd4 30.Nf5+ 30.Kh2! 30...Nxf5 31.Bxf5
Carlsen was a bit lax in his handling of the game and was probably no longer in a winning position. 31...Rb2 32.Rd1 Rxa2 32...Be7 33.Kf2 a5 33...Be7! 34.Rd7+ Kh6 35.Kf3 Kg5 36.g4 Bf8 37.Rxh7 Bh6 38.e6
1–0

Expert analysis by IM Robert Ris


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Brackets

Division I

Division II

Division III


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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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