World Champion against amateurs

by Johannes Fischer
11/24/2019 – Magnus Carlsen recently resigned from the Norwegian Chess Federation, but continues to play in the Second Norwegian League for his newly founded club Offerspill. So far, the world champion has played twice and — not surprisingly — won twice. Both games were one-sided, but still interesting. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (archive)
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Magnus Carlsen in the 2nd league

Many games by famous positional players like Capablanca, from today's perspective, lack a bit of drama. Again and again you see how Capablanca plays the opening unpretentiously, gains a small advantage seemingly effortlessly, and bags the victory. Such games are not as hard fought as most modern grandmaster games, but they illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of certain strategic motives with a clarity that is rare today.

Away from any live cameras, a week before heading to India, Magnus Carlsen took the opportunity to play in the Norwegian Second League, first against a young player Andreas Garberg Tryggestad, born in 2002. The world champion produced a one-sided, yet instructive win.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 d5 4.b3 Carlsen's play is remarkably restrained. He refrains from theoretical duels and doesn't aim for a sharp position. Bg7 5.Bb2 0-0 6.e3 Bf5 7.c4 c5 8.Rc1 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bg4 10.Be2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 White is more comfortable, but the engines still rate the position as balanced. Nc6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.0-0 a5 14.Nf3 a4?! Black plays enterprising and active moves, but that suits White who may soon obtain a passed b-pawn 14...Qb6 White is still more comfortable, but he has no concrete advantage. 15.b4 a3 16.Bd4 Qb8 17.b5 cxb5 18.cxb5 The passed b-pawn secures a permanent advantage and that decides the game, even though it doesn't advance further. Qb7 19.Qd3 Rfb8 20.Be5 Rc8 The b-pawn can not be taken. After 20...Qxb5 White wins with 21.Rc8+ 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.Rb1 Qb7 23.Nd4 Ne4 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Nc6 Nf6 26.Qd4 Kg8 Black has no counterplay and can only wait for White to press his advantage. 27.h3 Qd7 28.Rb3 Ne4? In a difficult position Black makes a tactical mistake that costs him material. More tenacious was 28...Kf8 or 28...Qb7 29.f3 Ng3 30.Qxd5! With the help of a simple fork trick, White wins a pawn and finally has a winning edge. Ne2+ 31.Kf1 Qxd5 32.Nxe7+ Kg7 33.Nxd5 Nc1 34.Rc3 Nxa2 35.Rc2 Black gave up, as his knight is lost. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2870Tryggestad,A23651–02019Norwegische Liga

How do you play against stronger players?

Inge Sandstad Skrondal, Carlsen's opponent in the second game has an Elo rating of 2311, so to say he's an underdog against the 2870-rated world champion is an understatement. But how to approach such a game? If you play main-line theory as an outsider, you're surely on terrain your opponent knows far better and probably has thoroughly researched. However, you also put the stronger player under more pressure because — if he wants to win — he has to avoid lines which are excessively drawish. A practical advantage of this is that the stronger player probably knows much better what lines to avoid, and therefore may sometimes choose objectively weaker options just to unbalance the position.

But Skrondal decided on a different approach against Carlsen. Although he had the white pieces, he took his chances in a sideline. While perhaps the greater theoretical knowledge of the super-GM is neutralized, this approach has other dangers — as is evident in the game.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.h3 White does not even offer a theoretical debate but tries his luck in an off-beat variation. With this approach he avoids theoretical lines that Carlsen is more familiar with but also fails to pose Black any problems. Nc6 5.d3 e5 6.Be2 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nbd2 Qe7 10.Re1 d5 Black has almost completed his development, his pieces are on good squares and this move indicates that he feels ready to seize the initiative. 11.Bg5 d4 12.Nf1 White's position does not look particularly harmonious and the engines already prefer Black. White's DIY approach in the opening was no success. h6 13.Bd2 Be6 14.Qa4?! Probably White wanted to target c5 but the queen quickly gets into trouble on the queenside. The engines recommend 14.Ng3 with only a slight advantage for Black. 14...Nd7 15.Qa3 a5 16.cxd4 exd4 17.Qa4 Rfb8 White lacks a convincing plan and with a couple of natural moves Black increases his advantage. 18.Bf4 b5 19.Qc2 Rc8 20.a4 White wants to stop Black's pawn expanse on the queenside but this makes things worse because it weakens White's position. But after other moves, such as e.g. 20.Qd2 g5 21.Bg3 c4 Black is also clearly better. 20...c4! After this energetic push Black is almost winning. 21.axb5 Nb4 22.Qb1 cxd3 23.Bxd3 Nc5 24.Be2 Bb3! Threatening to win the queen with 26. ..Bc2 27.Qc1 Nb3. 25.Rc1 A bit more stubborn was 25.Bd1 e.g. d3 26.Bxb3 Nxb3 27.Ra3 a4 with a clear advantage for Black, e.g. 28.b6 Nc2 29.Rd1 Qxe4 30.Bc7 Nxa3 31.bxa3 Nc5 After the move in the game White's position quickly collapses. 25...d3 26.Bd1 Bc2 27.Bxc2 dxc2 28.Rxc2 Nxc2 29.Qxc2 Ne6 30.Qd2 Nxf4 31.Qxf4 Qb4 32.Ne5 Rf8 White resigned. Apparently he trusted the technical abilities of the World Champion. Sooner or later White will lose the b-pawn after which Black's a-pawn will decide. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Skrondal,I2311Carlsen,M28700–12019B50Norwegian League

After these two wins, Carlsen has been unbeaten for 103 consecutive classical games.

Translation from German: Macauley Peterson

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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