SuperUnited Croatia: Carlsen scores 9 out of 9!

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
7/9/2023 – Magnus Carlsen obtained a 3-point lead going into the final day of action at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament after scoring a magnificent 9 out of 9 in the first half of the blitz section. After beating all of his opponents, an elated Carlsen told Anastasiya Karlovich: “I’ve had good days, but of course, this is something special”. Former co-leaders Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana are now sharing second place with 17 points each. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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“It feels really special”

There are very few things Magnus Carlsen has not achieved as a chess professional, and for fans all over the world it was nice to see the former world champion getting visibly ecstatic after having a particularly good day at the office in the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament. Carlsen scored 9 wins in as many games to take a 3-point lead in the standings.

Talking to Cristian Chirila after his perfect run, Carlsen said:

I’ve had stretches in Poland, where I had like 10½ out of 11 or something, but to win every single game on one day, I don’t think I’ve ever done that before — and probably I won’t do it again.

Carlsen confessed that he began dreaming about the perfect run after round 6. His next rival was Alireza Firouzja, and he had the black pieces, but given the youngster’s fighting spirit, he felt that he would get an imbalanced encounter and thought to himself:

If I win that game, I have a very good chance.

Of course, he won that game, and he went on to beat the Romanian duo of Richard Rapport and Constantin Lupulescu to put a bow on his superlative streak. The moment Lupulescu resigned was recorded by the organizers. Applause followed, of course!

Lupulescu, Constantin25840–1Carlsen, Magnus2835
SuperUnited Croatia Blitz 2023
Zagreb08.07.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bg4 8.Be2 Bxe2 9.Ngxe2 c6 10.0-0 0-0 11.Qc2 Re8 12.Rae1 Nbd7 13.f3 b5 14.Kh1 Rc8 15.Rd1 b4 16.Na4 c5 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.Bxf6 Nxa4 19.Qxa4 Bxf6 20.Nf4 Rxe3 21.Nxd5 Re2 22.Nc3 Qe8
The exchange of queens, which seems tempting at first, is often not so good after all, as Lupulescu found out in this game. 23.Qxe8+? After 23.Qxb4 Rb8 24.Qa5 Rexb2 25.Ne4= everything would have been fine for White. 23...Rexe8 24.Nd5 Also 24.Na4 fails due to Rc2-+ 24...Rc2 More precise was 24...Bxb2 25.Nxb4 Ba3! followed by the invasion of the rooks on the second. 25.Nxb4 Rxb2 26.Nd5 Ree2? This looks good, but it is hasty. It would have been much better to preserve the bishop: 26...Bg5! 27.Nxf6+ gxf6 28.Rg1 Better perhaps was the surprising 28.a3! Rxg2 29.Rg1 Rxg1+ 30.Rxg1+ Kf8 31.Rg4 Rb3 32.Ra4 Rxf3 33.Kg2 Rc3 34.Rxa7 White can hold on, even if his king remains unpleasantly cut off. 28...Rxa2 29.Rd7?! It was better to exchange a rook in order to be able to use the paralysed g1-rook again:: 29.Ra1! 29...a5 30.Ra7 More useful was 30.h4 in order to free the king. 30...Kg7 31.h3 h5 32.Kh2 h4 33.Rc7 Rf2 34.Rc4 Rxf3 35.Rg4+ Kf8 36.Rxh4 f5 37.Rc4 Kg7 38.Rd4 f4
It's hard to say whether White still had drawing chances here 39.Kh1? However, if he had any, they are gone now! 39.Ra1 Rxh3+ 40.Kxh3 Rxa1 41.Kg4 was an alternative - obviously, still with an advantage for Black. 39...Rff2 40.Rd3 a4 41.Rc3 Kf6 42.Rd3 a3 43.Rb3 f3 44.Rxf3+ Rxf3 45.gxf3 Rb2 0–1

Magnus Carlsen, Cristian Chirila

Blissful | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Anand, Viswanathan27540–1Carlsen, Magnus2835
SuperUnited Croatia Blitz 2023
Zagreb08.07.2023[Besenthal,Klaus-Günther]
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d3 dxe4 4.dxe4 Qxd1+ 5.Kxd1 Nf6 6.Nfd2 g5 7.a4 g4 8.Bd3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Ne5 10.Nc4 Nxd3 11.cxd3 Be6 12.Ke2 Bg7 13.Be3 Nd7 14.Rac1 f5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Ne4 0-0 17.b4 Nf6 18.Nxf6+ Bxf6 19.Na5 Rfd8 20.Nxb7 Rxd3 21.Nc5 Ra3 22.Rhd1 Rb8 23.Rc4 Kf7 24.Nd7 Ra2+ 25.Ke1 Be6 26.Rxc6 Bxd7 27.Rxd7 Rxb4
Here one of the former world champions made a fatal mistake, which the other (former world champion) gladly exploited to win the game quickly. 28.Rxa7? 28.Bxa7= 28...Bd4! The e3-bishop was holding everything together for White. Now it will disappear from the board. 29.Rac7 Bxe3 30.fxe3 Rxg2 0–1

Magnus Carlsen

Smiling fans getting autographs | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Grand Chess Tour 2023

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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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