Norway Chess Round 7: Carlsen tied for last

Round seven

All photos by Lennart Ootes

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Without taking anything away from Levon Aronian’s great win over Sergey Karjakin today, or Anish Giri’s win over MVL, the tale of the day was unquestionably Magnus Carlsen’s loss to Vladimir Kramnik. The reason is because there is a lot more than just a single loss, and any claiming otherwise are kidding themselves.

Magnus Carlsen has two rounds left, and his opponents will be none other than his world championship rivals: Vishy Anand and Sergey Karjakin

For a while now, Magnus Carlsen has not been his dominating self, and for a while, it was mostly shrugged off as a temporary thing. A phase, a glitch, nothing to get all bent out of shape over. During this period, his rating has been slowly but surely ebbing away like the tide, and though he was and is still no.1, there is little to no cushion for that to remain true. After his surprising and dramatic loss to Vladimir Kramnik, 10 Elo or less separate him from three other players: Kramnik, So, and … Aronian! What ails him is a matter of debate and speculation, but perhaps the most tangible (and thus fixable) reason is one voiced by both Garry Kasparov, and now in conversation, by GM Yermolinsky: Carlsen’s chess has stagnated.

Unable to win the 'drawn' endgame he used to milk, Magnuis has been forced into positions outside his current comfort zone

For years, he was winning one long endgame after another, many times dead equal, where he was able to trick his opponents and eventually score. His rivals all took notice and began working hard on their endgame skills, acknowledging that he had showed them, like none other before, the importance of this. They might still be behind him, but the difference is no longer enough to secure a 50+ Elo edge over them. They have adjusted. This is also producing other problematic consequences: his self-confidence is shaky, and his patience is shakier still. Is this the end of the Carlsen Era? Oh puh-leeze.

Certainly, if no action is taken, then yes, it might, but my money is firmly on his huge fighting spirit. Plus he is only 26. In 1996, after Las Palmas, Vladimir Kramnik declared that while Garry Kasparov might indeed have won the event, based on his chess, he could not claim to be ahead of the rest. We all know what ensued though: Kasparov, with his incomparable drive, got back to work, and in 2000 hit 2851, a full 70 Elo ahead of world no.2 Vishy Anand. He was 37.

Vladimir Kramnik is always a class act

Daniel King analyzes Kramnik vs Carlsen and Karjakin vs Aronian

Wesley So was one of the big names going into the event, with many wondering whether he would continue his superb streak. However, aside from his very entertaining draw against Karjakin, most of his games have been quite dry. Round seven was that in the spades, and while he did manage to squeeze water from a rock against Fabiano Caruana, more specifically a pawn from a queenless symmetrical middlegame, it was not enough due to the opposite colored bishops, and sure enough it drew after 67 moves.

Although So can be said to have outplayed Caruana inasmuch as he squeezed a pawn from a queenless symmetrical position, it was not enough to win

The spectators and photographers as the round started

Vishy Anand and Hikaru Nakamura fought an excellent battle with Nakamura knowing full well that with Aronian storming ahead, every chance counted, even when that means black against a 5-time world champion. Vishy’s equanimity was untouchable, understandably after his excellent win against Caruana, and in spite of all the parrying and feints, Nakamura was forced to content himself with the draw.

Anand's mood and confidence were untouchable

MVL’s game against Anish Giri was strange, especially since he is such an accomplished attacking player. Anish Giri played the Sicilian Dragon, Yugoslav variation, with black (no, you did not misread) against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and while it was not quite the chaos the line is best known for, it was still a position with opposite-side castling and attack. White seemed to falter precisely when he had the means to keep the initiative with 21.f4! but instead chose to follow a less promising and slower continuation that let Black get his own counter-play underway and after that the snowball never stopped growing.

Anish Giri played the Sicilian Dragon with black against MVL, and won

Levon Aronian has truly been playing some very exciting chess, with great courage and quality, and deserves all the results and accolades that have befallen him. With an opponent willing to fight on the board, Aronian sacrificed a pawn for the initiative, dictating terms mostly on the board. Karjakin held on to his pawn and the position, though Black’s compensation was real, and the balance held true for a long time. Possibly due to time pressure, or due to the pressure Black was exerting, Karjakin finally slipped with 31.d5? and things went downhill very quickly. A fantastic win for the Armenian, who now takes sole lead with 5.0/7, and climbs to 2808 in the Live Ratings list.

Sergey Karjakin was all smiles before the game

Sergey Karjakin vs Levon Aronian (annotated by GM Alex Lenderman)

Standings after seven rounds

(click image for full size)

Pairings and results of Norway Chess 2017

Links

• Official tournament site
• All Blitz games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)
• All Standard games in PGN or Replay them directly here (many analyzed)

You can use ChessBase 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.