Norway Chess: Carlsen takes the lead as Ding blunders

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
6/3/2024 – Magnus Carlsen climbed to sole first place in the standings of the Norway Chess super-tournament after inflicting what was Ding Liren’s fourth consecutive classical loss in Stavanger. The world champion blundered a mate-in-two in a balanced position to lose the game. Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja prevailed in Armageddon tiebreakers against Hikaru Nakamura and R Praggnanandhaa, respectively. | Photo: Stev Bonhage / Norway Chess

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Concerning

In a recent interview given to The Indian Express, Ding Liren reflected on his latest, subpar performances, noting that he hoped “not to finish in last place” at the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger. After suffering four consecutive classical losses in the event, the world champion stands in clear last place with 2½ points to his name, a whopping 4 points behind fifth-placed Fabiano Caruana.

In round 6, it was Magnus Carlsen who got the better of Ding, as the Chinese GM incredibly blundered a mate-in-two in a position that engines evaluated as balanced. Carlsen had referred to Ding’s form in a recent podcast, mentioning that he hoped for his colleague not to be “permanently broken”.

Ding has already talked about the mental health issues he had to deal with after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 2023 match for the World Championship. As shared by Tarjei J. Svensen on X, Ding provided more details about his struggles in a recent interview given to Die Tageszeitung:

I was exhausted, but still couldn’t sleep very well. That led to depression. I was treated in a clinic twice. Fortunately, things are slowly getting better. Chess is mentally exhausting.

A few of Ding’s colleagues in Norway, including Hikaru Nakamura, have shared their concern about Ding’s form and their desire for him to recover from this low point in his career.

Ding Liren

Ding Liren | Photo: Stev Bonhage

As per the race for first place in Stavanger, Carlsen’s classical win allowed him to take the sole lead in the standings. The local hero has a 1-point lead over Nakamura, who was defeated by Caruana in Armageddon on Sunday. Standing in third place is R Praggnanandhaa, who also lost in round-6’s rapid tiebreaker, against Alireza Firouzja.

Monday’s seventh round will see the clash between Nakamura and Carlsen, while Ding will try to stop the bleeding in his game with black against Pragg.

Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana

On Sunday, Fabiano Caruana defeated Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces in Armageddon | Photo: Stev Bonhage

Carlsen 1 - 0 Ding

Analysis by André Schulz

Carlsen, Magnus28301–0Ding, Liren2762
Norway Chess 2024
Stavanger02.06.2024[Schulz,A]
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c5 4.0-0 e6 5.c4 d4 6.e3 Nc6 7.exd4 cxd4 8.d3 Bd6 9.Nbd2 Carlsen had certainly studied the game: 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Nbd2 Qe7 12.a3 a5 13.Ne4 Bc7 14.c5 0-0 15.Nfd2 f5 16.Nd6 Bxd6 17.cxd6 Qxd6 18.Nc4 Qd8 19.Rc1 Ra6 20.Qb3 Kh8 21.Rfe1 f4 22.Qb5 Rf5 23.Qb3 f3 24.Bh3 Rf6 25.Ne5 Qd6 26.Nxc6 Rxc6 27.Qb5 Qc7 28.Rxc6 bxc6 29.Qh5 c5 30.Rc1 Ba6 31.Qe8+ Kh7 32.Bxe6 Rxe6 33.Qxe6 Bxd3 34.Qd5 1-0 Fridman,D (2590)-Ding,L (2762) Karlsruhe Grenke 4-6 rapid 2024 (2) 9...0-0 9...h6 The following had been seen in some games: 10.Nh4 e.g.: e5 11.Ne4 Be7 12.Qf3 g6 13.a3 Nd7 14.b4 a6 15.Bd2 Nf8 16.b5 axb5 17.cxb5 Na5 18.Bb4 f5 19.Nd2 Kf7 20.Rfe1 Bf6 21.Rac1 Kg7 22.Qd5 Nd7 23.Qd6 Re8 24.Rc7 Ra7 25.Rec1 1-0 Saric,I (2627)-Palac,M (2562) Blagoevgrad op 2013 (9) 10.Ng5 Be7 11.f4 Rb8 Here, in some of the games 11...h6 was played. 12.Qe2 Qc7
The real struggle is just starting. 13.g4 A somewhat unexpected advance of the g-pawn. b5 14.b3 bxc4 15.bxc4 Rb6 16.Nde4 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Bb7 18.f5 White conquers space with his kingside pawns, which he wants to use for an attack. exf5 19.gxf5 Ne5 20.Bf4 f6 21.Rae1 Perhaps Ng5 is a threat. Bxe4 22.Qxe4 22.Bxe4 Bd6 23.Bd5+ 22...Bd6 23.Kh1 Qc5 24.Bg3 Rd8 25.Qe2 White has the upper hand. Nd7 26.Bf2 Be5 27.Bd5+ Kh8 28.Qh5 More precise was 28.Rg1+- 28...Qf8 After 28...Rb2 29.Re4 h6 White only has a small advantage. 29.Re4
29...Rb2?? Overlooks the following two-move combination. 30.Qxh7+
1–0

Expert analyisis by IM Robert Ris


Standings after round 6

Rk Name FED Rtg Pts
1 Magnus Carlsen NOR 2830 12
2 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2794 11
3 R Praggnanandhaa IND 2747 9.5
4 Alireza Firouzja FRA 2737 8
5 Fabiano Caruana USA 2805 6.5
6 Ding Liren CHN 2762 2.5

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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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