Sagar and Amruta in Dubai: Day 2 impressions

by Sagar Shah
11/27/2021 – Want to get a glimpse of how things look in Dubai at the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi? The dynamic duo of Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal have made their way to the venue and are producing plenty of content on their YouTube channel. Take a look! | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

A closer look

Want to know how it feels to attend a World Championship match? Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal, the couple behind the ever-growing ChessBase India website, are working on getting the most prestigious event in the chess world closer to us aficionados. 

Browse through their YouTube channel for frequent video updates from the venue of the match. You will not be disappointed!

Behind the scenes

While Carlsen and Nepo are trying to figure out how to handle a massively complex Catalan Opening, let us take a look at the behind-the-scenes right before the start of game 2, the first encounter in which the world champion got the white pieces in the match.

Is the game going out of Nepo’s control?

Sagar enthusiastically goes over the first moves of game 2. What was Carlsen’s physical reaction to Nepo’s 7...b5? We are in for an exciting fight! 

Is Carlsen in trouble?

Another update from Sagar. Nepo seems to have solved his positional issues while still a pawn to the good. An enthralling fight, indeed!

Feel the tension

If we chess aficionados find ourselves glued to our screens while following the tense games of the match, imagine how it must feel for the players inside the glass enclosure. Sagar has uploaded a video showing us how things look a few meters away from the players!

Live analysis by Sagar Shah

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 2 Nf6 7 2.c4 7 e6 6 3.Nf3 8 d5 6 Out of the 146 times that Magnus has faced this position, he has gone g3 in only 14 games! In 126 games he has played Nc3. 4.g3 7 Be7 11 5.Bg2 17 0-0 8 6.0-0 14 The absolute main position of the Catalan with close to 42,000 games played. dxc4 6 7.Qc2 5 b5!? 9 Nepo throws the challenge to his opponent with the second most popular move in the position. 7...a6 is the main move here. 8.Qxc4 b5 8.Ne5!? 220 Carlsen thinks for around 4 minutes before making this provocative move. The engines do not like it and give an advantage to Black. The main move here is a4. But Carlsen must have analyzed it deeper and found that Black has some serious practical problems to solve. 8.a4 8...c6 548 8...Nd5 was another way to play. 9.a4 262 In this position Nd5 was the only move, yet Nepo took nearly 10 minutes to play. Just goes to show how stressful it is to play high stakes games and remember all your preparation. 9.Nxc6 Nxc6 10.Bxc6 Rb8 is not the best way for White to play of course. 9...Nd5 653 Of course not 9...Qxd4?! 10.Nxc6 Nxc6 11.Bxc6+- 10.Nc3 31 f6 642 10...Nxc3 11.bxc3+- 11.Nf3 32 Qd7 377 12.e4 394 Nb4 13.Qe2 Nd3 14.e5 Bb7 14...fxe5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.dxe5 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Ne4 The position looks very dangerous for Black. Na6 17.Ne5?! Magnus misassessed something or he misevaluated the position. 17.Nxf6+ gxf6 18.Bh6 Rf7 19.Ne1 Nab4 20.Nxd3 Nxd3 21.b3∞ 17.Be3!? Keeping more pieces on the board was interesting. 17...Bxe5! Excellent decision by Ian. 17...Nxe5? 18.dxe5 Bxe5 19.Rd1 Qe7 20.Ng5+- 18.dxe5 Nac5 19.Nd6 19.Nxc5 Nxc5 20.Be3 Nxa4 19...Nb3 20.Rb1?! 20.Be3 Keeping the dark squared bishop would have been better in this situation. Nxa1 21.Rxa1∞ 20...Nbxc1 21.Rbxc1 Nxc1 22.Rxc1 Rab8 23.Rd1 Ba8 23...Qe7 24.Be4 24.Nxb5 Qe7 24...Qxd1+ 25.Qxd1 cxb5 26.Bxa8 Rxa8 27.axb5± 25.Nd6 24...c3?! 24...g6 25.Qc2 25.Qh5 g6 26.Bxg6 cxb2 27.Bb1 27.Rd4 bxa4 28.Bb1 25...g6 26.bxc3 bxa4 26...Qg7 27.f4 g5 27.Qxa4 After this Nepo is able to exchange his bad bishop for White's good one but in return loses a pawn and also the knight remains dominant on d6. Rfd8 28.Ra1 c5 29.Qc4 Bxe4 30.Nxe4 Kh8 31.Nd6 Rb6 32.Qxc5 Rdb8 33.Kg2 Thanks to the knight on d6, White has excellent compensation. a6 34.Kh3 Rc6 35.Qd4 Kg8 36.c4 Qc7 37.Qg4 Nepo now gives back the material in order to make his defensive task easier. Rxd6 38.exd6 Qxd6 39.c5 Qxc5 39...Qc6 40.Qc4 Rb5= 40.Qxe6+ Kg7 41.Rxa6 Rf8 42.f4 Qf5+ 43.Qxf5 Rxf5 Some care has to be taken here but this position would most likely end in a draw. 44.Ra7+ Kg8 45.Kg4 Rb5 46.Re7 Ra5 47.Re5 Ra7 48.h4 Kg7 49.h5 Kh6 50.Kh4 Ra1 51.g4 Rh1+ 52.Kg3 gxh5 53.Re6+ Kg7 54.g5 Rg1+ 55.Kf2 Ra1 56.Rh6 Ra4 57.Kf3 Ra3+ 58.Kf2 Ra4 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Magnus Carlsen2855Ian Nepomniachtchi2782½–½2021World Championship 2021

Magnus has reached this position 146 times with white and only 14 times has he gone for the Catalan with 4.g3. So it was already a surprise for Nepo

It was time for Black to surprise White with the move ...b5!? The main played move is ...a6. But Nepo went for the 2nd most played move.

Next Magnus surprised Nepo with Ne5!? The more common way to go was a4

...f6!? pushes the knight away but also weakens the Black king a bit and the e6 square

e5!? and it was already starting to look dangerous for Black as he was quite underdeveloped

Ne5!? by Carlsen came as a big surprise. The move was aimed at getting control of the weakened dark squares, but it turns out that after just taking the piece on e5, Black is able to coordinate quite quickly!

Nepo gets his knight into the game and already looks quite well placed

The knight jumped to b3 and now it was important to keep the dark squared bishop with Be3, but it would also mean that you sacrifice and exchange and still have the strong knight on d3. Hence Magnus went Rb1 but now Nepo took twice on c1 and was an exchange up. It definitely looks good for the Russian player.

In this position Ian could have pressed better, but he gave back the pawn with c3.

Magnus played his queen to c2 and recovered the pawn.

The knight on d6 was the reason for White having good compensation

Nepo sacrificed back the exchange and liquidated into a drawish major piece endgame

The rook endgame with 3 vs 2 was going to be a draw!

Links

Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.