
Sometimes short draws can be very exciting, as was proven this week in the game between Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. First of all, it’s always cool when the World Champion plays his own variation against the Sicilian, but play became even sharper very quickly after Black sacrificed a pawn on move 7!
In subsequent play, both sides had to be play very precisely in order not to go astray, and a repetition of moves apparently was inevitable. Possible deviations for both sides and potential improvements from a theoretical perspective are discussed.
Exercise: Back to the stem game of this variation. Can you do better than Magnus and find the best move for White here?
Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!
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