An Instant Classic at the 2018 World Chess Championship | Game 6

you hi everyone it's Jerry this is game six from the 2018 World Chess Championship match the current champion Magnus Carlsen has the white pieces in this one against challenger Fabiano Caruana players are level entering game six two and a half points apiece in this race two six and a half each player still in search of their first win little room for error in this match I'd say at this stage halfway point collet how long will they be able to continue to play at this super top level engine like well this game here memorable to say the least there's a lot to it right out of the opening it grabs our attention middle game rich with ideas and an endgame is one that left plenty of top-level grandmasters scratching their heads even with the assistance of an engine so in game 2 Carlsen had white tried d4 game 4c for this time around trying to hit Caruana from all different angles tests the waters with eform it was bound to happen what do I mean the Petrov's defense is on board this is car Juana's favorite reply to e4 and it is now on board move form is one that I'm sure turned many heads now the most popular move is to drop back to f3 that moved in the database that I looked at had nearly 14,000 moves 14,000 games there's also a crazy gambit with Knight takes f7 over a hundred moves none of the above in this game it's Knight d3 19 games in the database I looked at not so common to do a move like this obstruct your center pawn the D pawn would like to move okay the Knights gonna get out of its way soon enough let's see how play follows black regains the material Queen's compete on the only open file and now get ready for this we have a series of ten consecutive night moves this some record this isn't what makes the game special this is just kind of our appetizer for this game yet a lot of night moves early on kicking off with Knight f4 knight c6 did I really mean this ten consecutive Knight moves queen is under fire I didn't mean that black ignores the threat and says I'm gonna hit your queen back Queens are gone after just eight queenless middle game position this is not an endgame still a lot of traffic on board Queen and upon are the only ones watching from the sidelines both Knights are saved each throwing a punch both of these points are now defended 93 96 okay from here this Knights in white this Knight is in White's house it's given a shove there's a couple ways you could do that d3 or f3 why f3 well this pawn really wants to play into d4 why it's gonna squeeze a little bit more out of this pawn f3 additionally creates a nice pocket for the White King white at this point is already eyeing up the f2 square for the King instead of castles so that the King is a tiny bit closer to the center from here Knight c5 not too many options d4 immediately does not need prep work Knight takes pawn well that Knight has a responsibility they would follow a fork d4 is poison 97 Black is now threatening to give the knight a kick and then once there's no pressure on c7 win the d4 pawn so d4 is secured with a pawn also on new squares available for this knight on the edge Knights given a kick Knight f4 my b6 Bishop d3 so just getting some pieces out repositioning for white Bishop d6 this tension has remained for some time neither side really wants to initiate the exchange because the other side can recapture and improve a piece all right Knight takes on f4 bishop recaptures but at this stage after Bishop d6 something needs to be done only at this point do we have a capture so one night is gone follow up King to f2 now from here black is looking to grab some space on the Kings side and this the this idea to play h4 is pretty serious should be addressed it is white plays h4 himself now why do I say that establishing upon an h4 is serious well if you just play Bishop to d2 let's say this pawn this Bishop coordination on g3 makes life difficult for the rook right if the rook tries to contribute drops h2 and well before you could activate the rook it seems like you have to do this but you would then give up a big square it's important to not allow this pawn to coordinate with the bishop in short so it stopped cold h4 on board a ram structure on the H file as well as on the D file now when h4 is played it does create a gap this is a hole at the moment it doesn't appear like black can take advantage of it but he's taking a step in the direction of exploiting g3 with his next move it's a long way off the knight is out here in left field but with Knight c8 he has an idea to coordinate well with the bishop the bishop gets there you take away a nice pivot Square on this only open file okay we're still a long ways off white can combat that that plan in many different ways during the game I questioned night a for how great of an inconvenience were the night on a 4 B typically when it's on the edge is not doing so much but it could be problematic in some cases a night on a for putting pressure on B 2 C 3 structure a simple way out is to start with rook b1 that's the only inconvenient move light would have to make Bishop d2 would happen naturally it's developing in defending c3 so just putting a move on like King d7 white would play here and finally the knight will be given a boot back to b6 so really this would not be a great bother maybe something Caruana considered but in the end decided on repositioning the knight he is eyeing up the F excuse me not d7 he's awning up the f5 square so here we go Knight e3 97 and this is an important moment in the game seems kind of quiet but there's a there's an idea that black has in mind after Knight to e7 that needs to be addressed what is this idea well first of all let me just note something about the Knights at the moment the white knight stands better than the Black Knight it's a third rank night versus a second rank Knight but that can soon change yeah it can change in a blink and what I mean while the knight can be given a shove can be demoted by a rank if white is not careful and black on his next move with the knight can promote the knight by two ranks what am I talking about well let's just say the move d2 Bishop d2 is played black has this option to launch the F pawn it creates a lot of gaps in blacks camp but the plan here with f5 is to go one step further with f4 kick the knight back and then make use of the f5 square with the knight so let me show what I'm talking about first here to secure some pieces against any tactics and if white doesn't do anything let's just say b3 this starts to be annoying for light right the knight that once stood better than the knight on e7 is demoted and this Knight is promoted look at how quickly things can change with a slight change in the structure this is a big deal white takes a step to address the f5 move on move 21 playing g3 basically in a blink it's well aware of this plan and is now in a position to me f5 with Knight g2 this is basically a winning position for white it's strategically busted for black these weaknesses on f4 and g5 will soon be pounced on with the white pieces and this bishop suffers it's a tall pawn basically on e6 now one other note is that instead of g3 Bishop d2 f5 and then G 3 black can break down the King position with f4 and you really don't want to enter this position as white allow that kind of pawn break keep in mind white has made a big decision when playing King to F - this is his shelter he wants to stay close to the center if this shelter can be broken down there's still a lot of pieces on board things can open up maybe the king is going to be vulnerable okay in this game g3 anticipating f5 from here c5 with in mind you know the king positions basically c5 a lot of time spent on that move nearly 20 minutes on the c5 advance what is black trying to do black is trying to damage trait that the king positions well White's king position is a liability trying to open lines on the other wing to maybe one day have a C file open up and subject the King to some you know second rank pressure this captures White's attention black has not yet committed the King at some point can tuck it away Castle kingside and yeah things can get really scary fast for white if not careful the center at the moment is maybe close to collapsing let's see how white addresses this pressure on d4 first of all repositions the bishop eyeing up b3 clearing the way for the rook to have some support of d4 black finally on this move 22 commits at the moment there's a pretty big difference on the clocks from here rook to d1 rook F to d8 Knight g2 at this moment there's a capture on d4 now you can't recapture what the rook and try to play against what would be an isolated pawn because we see highlighted this poor King position this is one way black can get it white show that this is a vulnerable post another thing to know is if in this position white is capturing on c5 instead of playing like g2 this is inviting a piece forward and black will soon be able to eliminate this isolated pawn and things get cracked open in the center there's still a lot of pieces around that can cause the White King a headache bear that in mind this is one of the deeper points that sparks a c5 advance all so a strategy you know with that in mind a strategy for white would be let's simplify the position a little bit so miking is not vulnerable and when I move towards the center well I'm gonna be closer towards the center if it becomes a bit simplified in your King the black king is way out there it's gonna take a lot more Tempe before your King gets involved so black keep things complicated white White's looking to really simplify right about this point so repositioning Knight G to almost there to have the bishop secure d4 black takes right now got a recapture with the pawn to see a Bishop b3 strong piece on b3 a couple things in mind pressure on d5 some security against a rook invasion a best piece for white I think so Cara Juana recognizes this and says I'm gonna challenge that piece Knight a5 nearby not only that not not only threatening to take the bishop but Knight c4 is also interesting so from here about 10 minutes spent on Bishop to f4 ideally you would like a dark square Bishop if you're playing is white this is the bad guy this is a good guy well I should highlight it like this these are the two bad bishops having a look at these fixed pawns in the center a desirable exchange dark-squared bishop s' and white would like to put a knight on one of these dark squares maybe have a good night on III versus a bad bishop on e6 so what is black do keeps this tension eyes up on Knight takes bishop or Knight c4 from here rook D to C one I believe one of the thoughts behind this particular move instead of rook a to c1 is that if black chooses to capture the bishop in to double the be pawns black will at some point have to address the threat on a7 so we don't have Knight takes bishop but rather a Bishop to b4 avoiding this good for bad Bishop exchange black maintains the bishops with Bishop to b4 maintains the good Bishop white similarly preserves the light square bishop this is White's good Bishop and now the knight jumps into c4 if we don't have Bishop to b4 and the knight takes here it's considered an evenness position how might play continue something like this the computer says still duck of this exchange even if you allow the rook activity the bishop will have a really good post on b6 black playing with the bishop pair maybe down upon but there is certainly compensation open position bishop pair okay Bishop b4 straight away no Knight takes b4 black has a different idea with the night let's see what that is Knight c4b 2 under fire how do you address that Knights given a kick now this creates a gap on a3 there's some interesting choices at this stage night a3 Knight d6 I believe you could even consider Knight to be 2 only if you could get to d3 and it appears you can get to d3 Knight a3 is played in this game one of the top suggestions the knight is eyeing up the d4 pawn at this point Knight b5 nearby d4 keep in mind is currently unprotected and soon to be a focal point for the black pieces from here pair of rooks exchanged rook C one night b5 both rooks are gone this is not some dead drawn position because the rooks have been exchanged there is still a lot going on first of all how exactly does white defend d4 so for example Bishop to e3 the move played in the game is night to e3 but if you're playing Bishop to e3 Knight c3 can be problematic right hitting the bishop hitting upon there's some problems White has to solve here plays Knight e3 goes on the offensive says you take my pawn I'm gonna take your pawn we'll just exchange the D pawns what is black do well it's not so quick to give up the D pump this is a super night defense attack on the bishop attack on the pond well black wants is to defend ISA 'kx and then knock out the a to pawn just went upon so what has to be creative goes into a bit of a think soon first Bishop c2 bishop a3 ensuring that this pawn does not bolt okay and just puts a stop to any pawn move wants to keep that that guy in a - Bishop to b8 a6 F for so this was a very creative approach by Carlson this F pond is racing up to challenge the bishop if it wants to defend here and make life a little bit difficult as well to defend the h5 pawn this this cost a lot of time right these last handful of moves you spent about 15 minutes on Bishop to b8 this idea to move the bishop play f4 this is what we have on board and after Bishop d7 looking to defend the pawn like this and then take the pawn we have f5 Bishop c6 and Bishop to d1 this was a really cool sequence kicking off with Bishop to b8 moving the pawn to f4 f5 and now knowing that you have this retreat it is defended and some pressure against h5 there isn't a great way to defend here so you have to look to hit black in a different way direct defense of a2 is not there white goes on the offensive pinpointing h5 we're approaching move 40 the first time control of this game where players gain 50 minutes what do we have from here Bishop b2 is on board now from here we have Bishop takes h5 instead of Bishop to b2 suppose black tries to hang on to h5 this can backfire on black an approach if black tries to defend h5 is a capture reposition back to c2 and now if the knight takes on a to this pawn would fall if black defends first with king of 7 we have this reposition again a 2 can fall but this is a way forward for white take the a pawn well both your King side pawns may soon this is a way Y can proceed go on the offensive maybe retain the material or restore the material in this game it is not G 6 black gives up the H pawn and instead focuses on this valuable Center pun Bishop takes h5 move 40 94 check another path is to take on a 2 that's super interesting - that would create a two-to-one majority on the Queen side white on the other hand after this last capture on h5 has a 3-2 - majority on the Kings side Caruana picks 90 for a nice central post for the night King G - and now picks up d4 immediately d5 becomes past the bishops start to look super menacing for white adjacent diagonals the bishop that was one staring at that pawn the pawn on d5 well it's now mobile bishops ready to move pawn is ready to advance a knight is then ready to move what they discovered check white needs to be a bit careful about this idea let's see the approach first repositions the bishop now black again earlier I was pointing out if it becomes a bit too simplified y can easily in a snap just become better maybe winning I want to highlight that for example if let's say the bishop backs up and we have Bishop f3 these are the moves played in the game so let's keep these right here if in this position black played the move d4 this is not a good decision here's one way white could look to get some exchanges in so let's just say black continues to push or something how can white simplify Knight d2 will force some exchanges I'm not saying this is the best repot reply for black I'm going through this variation to show you how a simplified position one where it is just two bishops like this is a win for white immediately the King will feel comfortable moving towards the center gladly pick up the pawn and go on to earn the full point black needs to be careful you do not want to simplify like this so what is the reply to Bishop f3 a move that is helping secure the white king along this diagonal Caruana hits at a top move and we go to a very interesting endgame Knight d2 is that move basically forcing the following Bishop takes on d5 taking with the knight first with immediately lose because of Knight takes bishop and Bishop takes Knight next so it is first Bishop takes d5 Bishop takes Knight no Bishop takes Bishop here because of a bishop takes bishop check and there's no time to take the knight so we go down this path one where we have a very interesting imbalance what is that exactly well there are two imbalances in this endgame opposite color bishops and also three pawns versus the knight who is close to being trapped if plaque isn't careful during the game I was thinking at this point you play Bishop a 3 but if Bishop a 3 to stop this past pawn from even thinking about running white could play Bishop d3 and ask the knight what are you going to do where's your next move all white squares are taken away from this guy if Bishop d3 is in there's a better way forward for black black improves the knight first make sure he's not going to get stuck on d2 and throws a punch White has to address that so only after g4 only up to the knight is rescued safe on e4 does black play Bishop a3 this seems to be a favorite square of the bishop revisiting it now on this move 48 it was already there unmoved 35 similar point behind Bishop e3 in this case don't allow this pawn to move this Knight is ready to hunt it once more so what is white do first it's the bishop on a better square opposite the King maybe at some stage you can take advantage of the pinned pawn black says I want none of it I'm getting out of the line of fire g5 Knight c3 and now an instructive moment in this endgame do you give up the a pond no light says I would much rather you take the B pond now why is it better and this one we have Bishop takes pawn in this position why is it better to maintain the a pond than the be pond in this end game well the night it's known absolutely hates defending against repens doesn't like to be on the edge it's more likely to have to be near the edge in order to prevent this rook pawn from advancing white is better off with an outside past pawn so the a pawn is still alive white improves the king some repositioning with the Black Knight the goal here black it well first of all black is the side trying for something here now it is only with black picking up the beep on white only has two pawns for the knight in this end game and the plan here for black is to make sure white doesn't exchange both of these pawns black needs to get to some position where one of these two the F pawn or Jeep on are still around so for example a bad idea for black would be to play g6 because one pawn is exchanged and soon enough the other will be exchanged their form white extremely black maintains upon on f6 King g4 this is a new square that's available now with f6 in the King is eyeing that up from here 94 King h5 and how do you prevent this King g6 move king f7 doesn't do it he'll be kicked immediately the idea behind king g6 is to put pressure on f6 you know give the knight a kick and then capture away enough six you know if black is doing something like this at this move 56 that's no good either because eventually even if it costs upon light we'll be able to eliminate black's remaining pawn black won't be able to do something like this the bishop will hunt it down one way not like that one way or the other by way of d3 or EA so having a pawn on a light square that guy will track it down so what is the plan at this stage well not to capture on d5 g5 but rather play Bishop to e1 uh-huh so now after kingi 6 or if King g6 is played there would be Bishop takes pawn so what is white do first gives the night a kick Knight d6 and well the King really wants to be on g6 but in order to play that he needs to distract the bishop this is what Carlsen goes for says Go Ape on this distracts the bishop releases pressure on h4 in other words and now we have a capture on f6 and the King can step up to the g6 square there is no Bishop takes h4 here move 60 is where we stand so from here defense of f6 King h7 white is putting pieces on light squares pawn on h5 the plan here for white is not to just keep advancing like this in fact if you go too far there are some cool mating Nets that can happen I'll try to highlight one of them from this position Bishop d2 moving the pawn right now will easily be tracked down so on this move 65 Bishop 82 was played if h6 this is how black can follow Knight g4 King here you take with the Bishop Knight still has to defend here and if white tries this kind of stuff attacking to minors the way out is to go here you take my bishop I take your Bishop and I go on to win you save your Bishop and then I save my bishop playing Bishop to g5 so in short not good to put this pawn on a dark square these two will track it down so in this game it's Bishop to a2 also just point out this little mating that I'm referring to again this kind of move would track the pond down but I'm gonna make a dummy move to show you trying to advance like this as white is really foolish you're one step away from queening right well now your King has no moves checkmate next move so you don't want to just race the pawn all the way up there this is as far as this pawn should go in this current position so move sixty five the bishop just gets as far away as possible from the King so that this Knight doesn't land any crazy fork from here Knight f3 Bishop d5 Knight d4 King g6 Bishop to g5 and Bishop to c4 this moment right here is the big one in this endgame Black has a winning continuation but it's nearly impossible to figure out how it's it's study like it's one it's one of those study like endings well I'm gonna throw it as a pop quiz to you if you like to try and figure this one out if you like what is that least the first move that gets us in the direction of winning here black to move what would you do okay yeah this one's a tough one to crack to be sure the star move in this position is Bishop to H form now why this is where I'm going to share some I'm just going to scratch the surface with this endgame by sharing a couple cool variations first of all what would black do if white just continues to march with the pawn so suppose Bishop h4 was the move plate how would black reply if H sick well first we have night f3 and it seems like this pawn can't be stopped right well it can with these timely moves 95 check if King here black would give a check force the King away from g7 and the king is there to stop the pawn and next win the pond you could only hang on to the pond for a short while if this position is on board you could defend but then we have this kind of stuff eventually Black is forcing the bishop to move otherwise we simplify into a Bishop and pawn versus a pawn position so the bishop would have to move black picks up the pawn and goes about the wind something like this just to give you a sense of how you can eventually track down the pawn once the H pawn falls the king and the knight simply converge on the remaining pawn and black goes on to win so again Bishop h4 star move we're not done yet with these variations h6 Knight f3 would be the follow up here check we already saw what would happen if the King goes here there's a Bishop g5 move if the King goes to h5 hitting the bishop well black at play King g7 we had a similar situation before King takes Bishop you know Knight takes Bishop and if this Bishop is rescued this Bishop is rescued soon enough the H pawn will be hunted if in this position white continues to push the pawn another variation and probably the most difficult one black would have to calculate is the following after Bishop h4 and let's say Bishop d5 stopping a Knight f3 move here's the winning sequence Bishop f3 black would have to have spotted this move you ready this is the star move Knight g1 now what makes this move here so special well it's going to be trapped it appears Knight is on the edge dark square light square Bishop can trap it Bishop g4 what would black do here how do you make progress as black this is the winning continuation I'm just I'm not going to carry it out until checkmate I'm just going to carry it out until a point where black is able to finally win the H pawn and we know what to do from there so what's the winning continuation how do we get to the point where this pawn falls its King g8 and well what does white do keep in mind any bishop move allows night h3 into f4 so let me put that on first after King g8 we can have night h3 and Knight f4 this would actually be a cool way to forget about winning the pawn that's another instance of checkmate Knight f4 is pretty powerful and so let's just say white stays here with the bishop and moves the King what is the way forward well we have this little ring around the rosey with the bishop let's see this cool sequence Bishop g3 king g6 Bishop e5 King h6 check and at the end of these moves Bishop d3 d5 f4 and now g5 black has to do up move the bishop and give up this square or move the pawn the King has no moves white would have to play h6 black can now go to the corner and after h7 we repeat this same sequence with the Bishop Bishop h4 Bishop g3e 5f for g5 once more black has to concede something in a king move the pawn Falls a Bishop move the pawn will soon fall Knight f4 and the King will be flushed away from this pawn that's a lot to figure out I'd say and this is the this is one of the variations that needed to be calculated this is what had so many top-level grandmasters kind of scratching their head with this endgame there was a force twin kicking off with this absolutely sparkling Bishop to h4 move move 68 the move of the match thus far it was not played this was a win for black can we say a missed win I don't know this is super difficult it was there though cool ending study like ending in this game Knight f3 on board King age 795 let's see what black tries in this end game we have eventually the knight and Bishop this construction is gluing freezing the white pawns and now the black King is going to try to go behind enemy lines and somehow coordinate on these pawns it's difficult to do that however so in this position black on move played 93 if instead the King comes over like this the bishop is always there prepared to take the knight out like this and then push the pawn the idea being to me Bishop takes pawn with not that but this which is a drop so in the game what does black play Knight III white pushes and after Bishop takes pawn a draw offer was made and it was accepted there are a couple approaches here for white get to take your pick taking the bishop as a draw taking the pawn as a draw yeah this is a drawn ending opposite colored bishops potent has an extra night that's a drop and this one here is also a pretty simple draw to hold the main focus should be to maintain the bishop on this diagonal and always be in a position to sacrifice the bishop for the pawn we didn't get to that point this is as far as we had went in this one Bishop h6 a draw agreed big time game again I was only I believe scratching the surface with the variations I showed at the end there the one that sparkled is Knight to g1 putting the knight in a trap like that and knowing that eventually you can exhaust all Tempe by white and eventually pick up the H pawn that's pretty wild we remain level in this game Treena not three and a half three points a piece now going into Game seven it remains deadlocked as always feel free as usual to leave any feedback to this video in the comment section below but wait a second I forgot one thing the tale the tape I almost forgot yeah two engines basically still the same story a moment for Caruana in this end game there should probably be an even bigger spike right around here but it does give us some sense that there was something missed at that move sixty-eight final tally on this one in in accuracy a piece six six on the average sent upon loss okay I think that's now all I wanted to share with this one again as usual feel free to leave any feedback to this video in the comment section below and as always I hope you got something out of this one that's all for now take care bye you

Channel: ChessNetwork

Views: 194,932

Rating: 4.9218349 out of 5

Keywords: instant classic chess, historic chess games, endgame study, magnus carlsen, fabiano caruana, 2018 world chess championship, fabiano caruana vs magnus carlsen, caruana vs carlsen 2018, caruana vs carlsen game 6, 2018 world chess championship game 6, chess, chessnetwork, chess network, classic chess game

Id: 4yzaG0Ia_fs

Length: 43min 44sec (2624 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 17 2018