Norway Chess: Carlsen climbs to the shared lead

by Klaus Besenthal
6/4/2022 – Round 4 of the Norway Chess tournament was played on Friday. Magnus Carlsen won his classical against Anish Giri, and was awarded three points for his victory. Previously in the sole lead, Viswanathan Anand, playing with Black, had to settle for a draw against Wesley So before losing the Armageddon game. Anand received only one point in this round and is now sharing the lead with Carlsen. Round 5 will be played on Sunday after a rest day. | Photos: Lennart Ootes
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A memorable win

Carlsen’s game against Giri is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry. The world champion's pressure on the diagonal a2-g8 was obvious, but objectively it did not seem to be a major factor. After a single mistake by Anish Giri, that was to change abruptly.

 
Carlsen, Magnus28641–0Giri, Anish2761
10th Norway Chess 2022
Stavanger03.06.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Be2 Nc6 10.Qd3 h6 11.Bh4 Be6 12.0-0 Qb6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Qxd5 Qxb2 16.Bc4
In this position a draw was actually in the air, but the world champion wouldn't be the world champion if he didn't consider that something could be made out of the pressure on f7 in the long run. 16...Qxa1? And promptly Giri makes this mistake. 16...Qa3= 17.Rxa1 Bxa1 18.g4! Rae8 19.h4 Re7 20.g5
A moment ago nothing was going on, but now Black has great worries on the light squares in front of his king - especially regarding f7. 20...hxg5 21.Nxg5 Here 21.Qf5! was even stronger: Ne5 22.Nxg5 g6 23.Qf6 with a strong attack. Besides the obvious Qxe7, h4-h5 is threatened, and then even Ne6 could become a motif. In any case, Black is more weakened here than in the game - and the a1-bishop is out of play. 21...Bf6 22.Qf5 Bxg5 23.hxg5
But even now Black cannot defend f7. 23...Re5? Better was 23...Ne5 but after 24.Bb3 Rd8 25.g6 Kf8 26.gxf7 Nxf7 White still has the upper hand 27.e4!± It is possible, however, that Black is not yet lost here. 24.Qf4 Rc5 25.g6 Ne5 26.gxf7+ Nxf7
Here Black's position is worse than in the previous variation: here too he has to deal with the advance of the white e-pawn, but has hardly any options left, because the three pieces on the kingside are totally paralysed. 27.Be6 More precise was 27.Bb3! 27...Rh5 Better was 27...Rc6 although it probably would not have changed the result. 28.Qc7 g5 Black wants to move the rook to h6 or h7, which might allow the rook on f8 and the king to move more freely. 28...Rb5 29.e4 29.Qxb7 Rh6 30.Bb3 g4 31.Qxa7 But after losing his queenside, he definitely has no chance. Kg7 32.e4 Rh5 33.Qc7 Kf6 34.a4 1–0

Magnus Carlsen’s impressive win over Anish Giri has catapulted him to the top of the table

Mamedyarov’s “triple” against Wang Hao, scored with the black pieces, was ultimately about the question of how to use one’s extra exchange to win in the endgame.

 
Wang, Hao27440–1Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar2770
10th Norway Chess 2022
Stavanger03.06.2022[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7 10.Bc2 Bg4 11.Bb3 Nc5 12.Bxd5 Nxe5 13.Bf4 c6 14.Bxe5 Qxd5 15.Qxd5 cxd5 16.Nbd2 f6 17.Bd4 Nd3 18.b4 Nb2 19.h3 Bd7 20.Nb3 Na4 21.Ne1 Bf5 22.g4 Bg6 23.Ng2 Kf7 24.Rfe1 Rac8 25.Nf4 Be4
White's position is worse, but he is not lost yet. 26.Nd2? But after this move Black has the chance to increase his advantage. Good was 26.f3! Bxf3 27.Re6 but after Be4 28.Re1! Black cannot play g5?! due to: 29.Rxe7+ Kxe7 30.Nxd5+ Kd6 31.Nxf6 Bg6 32.Be5+ and White is better. 26...Bd6 27.Nxe4 Bxf4 28.Nc5 That's where the knight wanted to go. Bd2 But this move by Black had probably been overlooked by Wang Hao. 29.Nxa4? He had to bite the bullet 29.Re2 but after Bxc3 30.Bxc3 Nxc3 31.Rd2 h5 Black is doing very well, of course. 29...Bxe1 30.Nc5 Bd2 31.a4 Ra8 32.Nd7 Rhd8 33.Nb6 Rab8
With his exchange, Black is actually on the winning side, but it's not exactly easy to convert the edge into a win. 34.axb5 Bxc3?! This is not a good idea. After 34...axb5 35.Ra7+ Kg8 36.Nd7 Ra8 37.Rb7 Rac8 38.Nc5 Rb8 the patient black player is ultimately in the driver's seat: he must try to activate his rooks as best he can - then the extra exchange will prevail. 35.Bxc3 Rxb6 36.bxa6 Ra8
37.Ra5? In case of 37.a7 Rb7 38.Bd4 Rxb4 39.Bc5 Black still has the better prospects thanks to the passed d5-pawn, but it's not clear. 37...Rbxa6 38.Rxd5 Ra3 39.Rc5 Rd8 40.Kg2 Rd3
The dangerous a-pawn is gone and the rooks are highly active: now things are going in the right direction for Black. 41.Bb2 Rab3 42.Bc1 Rxh3 43.Be3 Rh4 44.Kg3 Rh1 45.Kg2 Re1 46.b5 Kg6 47.Rd5 Rb4 48.g5 f5 49.b6 Reb1 50.Rd7 f4 51.Bd4 Kf5 52.Bxg7 Rxb6 53.Bh6 Kg4 54.Rf7 R1b3 0–1

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is ranked 14th in the current world rankings

Standings after round 4

  Name Points
1 Viswanathan Anand 8½
2 Magnus Carlsen 8½
3 Wesley So 7½
4 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 7
5 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 5½
6 Anish Giri 4
7 Veselin Topalov 3½
8 Wang Hao 3
9 Aryan Tari 3
10 Teimour Radjabov 3

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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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