The Petroff (or Russian) Defence which is characterised by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 has been popular at the highest levels for many years and enjoys the reputation of being an extremely solid defence.
What do Americans do when a hurricane hits town? They first name it nicely, of course! Ever since the Sinquefield Cup started, the final showdown between the World Champion and his challenger before their world championship is the talk of the town. And their mutual encounter yesterday was nicely named ‘Super Saturday’.
When you reach the Saint Louis Chess Club and see crowds lining up to enter the tournament hall it hits you — it is much more than just this game and tournament. This is a crowd to watch their own ‘Fabi’ take on the World Champion today, to see a hint of a prelude to their summit clash in November.
Spectators in queue waiting to get into the tournament hall | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
Crowded reception area, tickets being sold | Photo: V. Saravanan
Lobby telecasting the live commentary | Photo: V. Saravanan
Then you go up the stairs to the tournament hall and it hits you even more! Entry to the hall was restricted for about half an hour to allow only the press, and a good heap of sports channels had descended to the hall — Sports Illustrated, ESPN, HBO...
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Press photographers and videographers inside the tournament hall | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes
Then you find peculiar signs — reservations for photographers?! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Austin Fuller
Then you realise this encounter has attracted even acclaimed legends of photography to Saint Louis! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club /Lennart Ootes
And then you spot Harry Benson himself! The iconic photographer with an endearing connection to our game, with his unforgettable portraits of Bobby Fischer. Is he getting ready for the next American World Chess Champion?
The scenario inside the tournament hall just after the start of the games, with only media allowed access
Onsite commentary room with Grandmasters Alejandro Ramirez and Cristian Chirila is even fuller than usual | Photo: V. Saravanan
Amid all the hype, the game got on. Carlsen showed his class early on:
A World champion's guide to the Petroff
The great popularity of the Petroff Defence at the highest level has attracted general attention as strong players employ this opening with great success and with both colours. Unfortunately, the opinion of the Petroff as a sterile drawish opening seems to be firmly implanted in many minds. The author tries to dispel these myths and examines the most popular lines and provides a large number of ideas that will enable you to play Petroff successfully, with either colour.
14.Be2!? Subtle play. Carlsen reasons that at c4 the bishop is misplaced, open to be attacked with ...Nc6-e5. Hence, he retreats the bishop before planning the advance of the g-pawn. Remarkable. Carlsen simply excels in identifying such deep resources. Only a thorough analysis of the position reveals the soundness of his idea, but apparently Caruana panicked… 14...Bg4?! 15.Nh2 Bxe2 16.Qxe2 Ne5 Black is getting ready for ...Qd7-c6 and ...Ne5-c4. 17.Bc1! and White is ready to roll his kingside pawns.
Carlsen gave a determined demonstration over the board | Photo: V. Saravanan
Fabiano played 19...Qe4 hoping that a queen swap will halt White’s attack on the kingside. 20.g4 Ne3 21.Rde1 Qxd3 22.cxd3 Nd5 23.Reg1 and White’s initiative cannot be underestimated. After indifferent play by Caruana, Carlsen was soon on his way to score a win, it looked...
Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.
With his position apparently overwhelming, Magnus went to the confession booth here, and did an epic act. Check it out yourself!
.@MagnusCarlsen in the confession booth 🤫. What do you think it means?! pic.twitter.com/KBOoAHhcPD
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) 25 de agosto de 2018
Though this might remain an embarrassment for Carlsen, we have to give it to him for showing a sense of fun and gamesmanship during the game. We need more competitors like him, don’t we?
You cannot fault him — the position looked too good! 25...Rxh6 26.f5 Rh7 (A cute mate is 26...Rxh5 27.Ng4 Rxh1 28.Nf6+ Kh8 29.Rxh1) 27.Ng4 Kh8 28.f6 Ng8 29.fxg7 Rxg7.
But the inexplicable happened after this, as Carlsen started taking too long for his moves, and played below par too: 30.Be3 c5 31.Bf4 (31.Bd2! with the idea of c3-c4). 31...Re8 Carlsen had less than a minute here. After 32.Ne3 Rxg1 33.Rxg1 Re6 34.Nd5 Nf6 35.Nc7 Re2 36.Nb5 Re6 37.Rf1? he should have grabbed with 37.Nxa7 Kh7 38.Rh1 and hope that the extra pawn gives him a good advantage. The game petered out to a draw.
But we have to credit Caruana too — in a difficult position, the challenger played quickly and put forth the best defence to hold the draw.
Fabi, cool under pressure | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club /Lennart Ootes
When the time came to repeat the moves and settle for a draw, the World Champion was obviously distressed:
Carlsen obviously suffering when agreeing for a draw | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club /Lennart Ootes
Uncharacteristically, he was very critical of himself in the after-game chat: “In all of my games I am not being practical. I kind of follow my intuition to make decisions. It’s frustrating for sure....particularly today was not a good day. Draw with Fabi is not a disaster and I couldn’t calculate. Obviously there was a lot at stake today, obviously I was a bit nervous”. Remarkable words from the guy who is estimated to become the all-time greatest!
Reminded about his Confession Booth mischief, Carlsen chuckled, "That kind of backfired, eh? At that point I was pretty sure I was winning. I just wanted to have some fun. But it didn't work out”...
The commentary team had the friskiness to play the Confession Booth clip to Caruana too, just after the game, and Caruana gave a big grin, “I guess he thought it was already over. But it wasn’t!”
There was nothing much happening in the other games, as fatigue is overtaking all the players who are nearing the end of the second tournament in succession. Only Vachier-Lagrave tried to be nicely creative:
The Italian Powerbook 2018 will consist predominantly of engine games (783 000), with in addition top class material from Mega and a small number of correspondence games (16 000).
And this is where Maxime decided to do-a-Karpov with his rook: 22.Ra3!? Watch out! Nf6 23.Bf3 c6 24.Rb3! Re7 25.Rb4! and the elephant march had given him a considerable edge…
Maxime ‘Karpov’ Vachier-Lagrave, the Frenchman with three names?! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club /Lennart Ootes
But this is where he squandered it, when he could have played 32.Bg4! Rd8 33.Ke2 and keep pressing Black. Instead, he erred with 32.h5? f5! and the black knight found a home on f6...
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IM Lawrence Trent presents the highlights of the day
Commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade
