Magnus Arrives Late, Beats Hikaru

ladies and gentlemen what is the most fun chess matchup nowadays it's obviously Magnus versus Hikaru now sometimes it's in title Tuesday sometimes it's over the board well today it's both of those things mixed together it's a Blitz game that they played yesterday May 29th at Norway chess Norway chess is probably one of the strongest chess tournaments in the world nowadays and it starts with a blitz tournament why does it start with the blitz tournament well determining your main section seating occurs in this blitz tournament they make the 10 players play a blitz event and if you're in the top five uh you get five games with white and four games with black and the other people get five games with black and four games with white well one of those matchups that we had yesterday uh was the matchup between Magnus Carlson and Hikaru in Blitz and something very interesting happened uh if you notice after the first moves Magnus is down about 30 seconds on the clock well as it turns out Magnus came late he was not there at the start of the game now to his credit Hikaru did not sneakily start the clock that's not what happened Hikaru realized that Magnus was not there so he waited Hikaru sat there and was like well maybe he's gonna arrive I don't know maybe maybe Magnus is saying some prayer in Norwegian maybe Magnus is locked in the toilet I don't know we've all had something bad to eat for lunch and Hikaru actually did not start the clock the Arbiter walked by and was like look your opponent's not there we gotta start the clock and so Magnus runs in and makes his first move and is down 30 seconds on the clock in a Blitz game which is a lot of time that's a lot of time when you're probably one of the top two players in the world uh in Blitz hey Carl plays Knight F3 and then he plays this move Bishop to G5 Bishop to G5 is the Torre but it's also it could happen from a trumpowski opening and then if black plays D5 white plays Knight F3 Magnus plays this move Knight to E4 hitting the bishop on the G5 Square uh and now Hikaru slide excuse me slides the bishop back to F4 of course Hikaru can also move the bishop there and he can also do this now Magnus plays the most principled move which is Pawn to C5 ikaro plays E3 strengthening the position generally in Queen spawn positions you want to move the DNC pawns together let this be a life lesson and then and only then does Magnus play the move Knight to Z6 you notice uh that the position is uh equal right the way that Magnus has played it but notice what happens uh if Magnus just plays the Knight to C6 without actually moving the pawn to C5 uh in just a couple of moves time you know especially if black uh that doesn't play the opening in the best of ways uh White gets some very very pleasant uh and long-term advantage and the the computer uh only thinks it's 0.2 because uh it still wants to play C5 like the computer is only saying that it's not getting any worse than this uh because black will go night before and then play the move C5 um I was trying to prove a point there but you know stockfish is like nope still gonna play C5 a little bit later and I'm gonna be all right um Knight bd2 Magnus plays Bishop F5 and now Hikaru plays the move Pawn to Z3 by the way you'll notice look at the time now Magnus not only arrived late and had his clock started Magnus is already down a full minute in a Blitz game on like the sixth move that's not good it's just a very inefficient way to play Blitz you were given three minutes and you've spent 33 percent of it on the first six moves so let's see what happens Hikaru plays the move C3 uh the idea is very simple re-strengthening the center creating the pyramid and opening up possibilities for the queen to go not just to B3 but also to A4 where it pins the Knight and then maybe bishop B5 as well what you are committing when you do this is that you are probably not going to play the move Bishop D3 because that Bishop will run directly into it and your Bishop is unguarded there's all sorts of traps and tricks where the Knight will sacrifice itself so Magnus plays E6 Hikaru plays Queen B3 attacking the pawn on the B7 square and now black has the option to protect this with the queen black should avoid a move like B6 because while that does solve the problem of the Pawn on B7 it drastically weakens the Knight Bishop B5 Queen A4 and PP on the pp and uh put pressure on the pin piece white is going to win the game just simple Bishop B5 so Magnus plays Queen D7 now there is a very nice trappy move in this position but it requires the Knight to be back here uh and it is the move Knight to E5 and what this move does is it opens up that diagonal and the Knight is hanging as well the problem is right now that after uh Queen D7 if you play Knight E5 nothing happens I take and you can set this up but black is gonna do this and then this and black is just in fantastic shape first of all black already won Connect Four second of all your king is in the center which is looking kind of ridiculous uh third of all black has the pawn Avalanche right that's what black wants now Hikaru in the game plays the move Bishop to B5 and like I said he is going to PP on the PB and by the way he's got a double he's got a double pin here now right the queen is the Knight is pin to the queen and then also to the king Magnus in this position plays the move Knight takes D2 um and uh he does this because he probably imagines that Hikaru will recapture like this and then he's gonna play A6 kicking out the bishop and then maybe he's gonna play C4 kicking out the queen and then he's gonna play B5 and Magnus is gonna get that Avalanche and I gotta Tell You Folks this does not look particularly Pleasant right this just doesn't look this doesn't look good if I'm playing with white right so what does Hikaru do after Knight takes D2 after they're spending about 30 seconds Knight takes D2 Hikaru plays King takes which is which looks ridiculous um that it that that looks ridiculous I'm not saying it is ridic I mean it is ridiculous uh but it's a potentially very very clever idea uh so clever that actually he kind of forces magnus's next move the point is that this pin is a little bit too strong and now if Magnus spends a full Tempo going A6 uh I don't actually have to move I can now play Knight E5 and then you have to go play defense and then I'm gonna play take take I can play Queen A4 you actually just cannot defend the spawn I can also potentially play G4 and H4 and uh it it black actually has some very serious problems in this position that are not so simple to solve I mean he's just gonna lose a pawn so seeing that Knight E5 was coming Magnus is actually in this position kind of forced to play this move F6 it's a bit of a you know you generally don't want to play moves like F6 but sometimes you just have to acknowledge what your opponent wants also your opponent's king is in the center which is a little bit strange and so here Hikaru plays Queen A4 applying more pressure uh the move A6 now just simply doesn't do anything because there's a queen pitting the Pawns of The Rook which is why Magnus unpins himself with the move Rook C8 and now Hikaru had a plan to manually Castle his King basically get his King to the castle position on G1 but first play the move Rook to D1 but first before doing this plan uh Hikaru took the pawn on C5 he took the pawn on C5 because if Hikaru is going to do this whole maneuvering idea uh black is gonna shut the door and then this bishop is going to perish uh White is going to get none of the benefits of the position and let's not forget that this bishop is going to very promptly arrive on the D3 Square then black is going to play B5 uh and uh black is calling I mean literally all of the shots in this position now white has absolutely nothing white can try to break out that just creates more harm than good so Hikaru takes on C5 might seem counter-intuitive to take a Pawn on C5 when your king is in the center but uh sometimes in chess you cannot just look at a position and make some sort of generalization or make some sort of claim you need to have concrete evidence that a king is actually weak or you need to make you need to have concrete evidence that uh a piece is very strong for example you cannot just say well my Bishop is extremely strong it controls the entire diagonal it's not and black can actually just play E5 which he's going to do right now Bishop to G3 Bishop C5 but now we see hikaru's idea right he's going to play Rook D1 and as completely ridiculous as this looks there actually is some Merit to it for example castles in E1 H6 Rook takes D5 I mean I'm just saying like there actually is Merit to this position because after Queen 65 there is this and you're just winning the queen so this plan as completely bogus as it looks is really not that bad and uh A6 and now Magnus plays Knight E7 essentially forcing a queen trade and we have an end game we this I would not really call an end game because two Rogues two Bishops Knights it's more like a queenless middle game Hikaru plays the move King back to E1 so it looks like the king uh just kind of stayed at home and The Rook teleported with pressure here uh and Magnus has a very pleasant position he moves his Bishop into the center of the board and now it's kind of time for the players to decide what to do here with one and a half minutes on the clock uh and what you are about to see is definitely going to shock you so Magnus arrives 30 seconds uh late for this game he's down a minute on the clock by move six and he is clearly like outmaneuvering Hikaru and has a very pleasant middle game Advantage hikara plays H3 because I got news for you I'm not really sure what else you can do here King F7 Knight D2 and the thing is you cannot tank and spend all of your time right you only have a minute and 40 seconds so kikaru is just basically trying to play moves that have you know relatively straightforward ideas and not over committing Pawn to H5 taking some space preventing the Bishop from coming Rook slides over not much you can do there Knight jumps to F5 Knight F5 has a very concrete threat of taking the bishop followed by taking the pawn so kikaru plays Bishop H2 which is why a couple of moves ago he played the seemingly innocuous move H3 but it was not innocuous I mean it very much had an idea and now Magnus rotates Knight to D6 and potentially is going to jump forward uh in the future but Hikaru immediately ceases back equality because now it's difficult for Magnus to move his Rook it's also difficult for him to defend all the all the Pawns in the center Knight to B3 is coming to get the bishop and also the pawn pawn to G5 Knight B3 and Magnus jumps in and now we are going to get some exchanges magnus's idea here is to get Hikaru into an end game where hikaru's Bishop is buried in the sand that Bishop on H2 is staring straight at a brick wall that brick wall is reinforced with another brick wall which is then enforced with a gigantic bulldozer and yet another brick wall and then like seven more brick walls um yeah so this bishop is going to really struggle to get out and here it's you know trapped but Hikaru was clever he's like I'm just gonna take the bishop and when you take maybe I won't take this Knight at all C4 questioning the Integrity of the stability of Black's position white is now coming down potentially on the C D files and it's actually Hikaru who is back in this game G4 Magnus comes knocking he is trying to force the hand once again Hikaru though plays Pawn takes D5 there is now a pawn seeing a bishop a bishop seeing a knight upon seeing a bishop and the Rooks are staring at each other for good measure Magnus takes the bishop Hikaru takes the bishop with check forcing Magnus to play here now G takes F3 and a rook trade and we have a knight and Bishop end game now hikaru's Bishop here is definitely going to get active because he's going to use the F Pawn bludgeon his way out and also the Rook is going to infiltrate just as like a little bonus measure so now less than a minute each for probably what I you know I think these two are very clearly the two PES Blitz players in the world uh and probably rapid as well at any given day so let's see what happens Hikaru plays King E2 and now a very important question can Magnus take the pawn on H3 because when you do this you've only got one way out and while Hikaru could play the move Rook C7 which would allow Magnus to counter-infiltrate Hikaru plays F4 how's the night getting out I got news for you I don't think it is magnus's Knight is trapped it is just completely trapped on the edge of the board and he's down to 20 seconds how can he possibly do this Rook G8 in comes Hikaru to attack the pawn on H5 this Rook has no point nowhere to infiltrate F5 blocks the roof but now rookie five check deflects the king and now the bishop is sneaking out and the king is threatening to go to G2 right King G2 just completely threatening to win material Rook G4 the only remaining ideas to go Pawn here and if you play King to G2 there is this and then I just get the bishop in time so rookie 8 Hikaru goes around back here comes Magnus knocking on the door King slides over Rook Hade Magnus is down to eight seconds on the clock Magnus kicks out the kick The Rook now Rook B8 that's it Hikaru is going to win the pawn on B7 but the pawn runs but Hikaru gives a check but Magnus runs forward and Hikaru is going to win the pawn on A6 and he picks up the pawn on A6 Hikaru is up a pawn they both have about 10 seconds on the clock magnus's Knight still has absolutely no role in this game in fact I got news for you I think none of magnus's pieces have any role in this game who is going to what are any of his pieces going to do Magnus finds an idea Rook goes back to G7 and now in comes the king king F3 oh my goodness King F3 and Knight takes F2 and is actually Hikaru gonna lose this game King to G2 though wait a minute now Magnus can play B4 he can stall but Magnus sacrifices the Knight Knight takes F2 King takes F2 look at this look at this poor Bishop on H2 I told you that Bishop was sealed in a long time ago between behind like 40 layers of cement the bishop goes to G1 now Rook G2 Magnus is just down a full Bishop but is this really a bishop at all this bishop has absolutely no scope in this game and in the meantime black is going to pillage the pawns on the queen side with less than 20 seconds on the clock Bishop F2 the King goes back Magnus simultaneously threatening King F3 and the advancement of the H Pawn Rook G6 King F3 it looks like there are mates abound but the bishop takes the H Pawn Rook B1 check the bishop has to block now King takes E3 if Hikaru loses both of the pawns then Hikaru is going to be in a drawing position or he's going to lose right Hikaru is going to win the pawns rook and Bishop versus Rook is a draw now Rook to B6 Magnus plays King F3 now Rook to H6 trying to kick the king out Pawn to E3 this is a terrifying position for Hikaru who despite being up a bishop is hardly up a bishop at all Rook H3 check King to E4 Rook H5 Pawn to B4 Rook H2 Hikaru shuffling unsure does he defend does he counter attack what does he do because the king and the Rook for black are defending all of Black's pawns Rook to A1 just questioning now Rook to B2 King into F3 and that's it Magnus has taken hikaru's penultimate Pawn the pawn on A2 hardly upon it all that pawn will probably Fall In the Heat of the battle Hikaru now has to probably change his attention completely to just making a draw Rook H4 check the King goes to F3 check again here comes magnus's Pawn this is a terrifying Prospect for Hikaru who plays Rook B2 King F3 and now he realizes that if he takes this there's E2 check and he's gonna lose his bishop and he's gonna lose the game so Hikaru seemingly has to just protect the second rank Rook to B1 Rook H3 but now if you protect the second rank if you just play Rook H2 is there Pawn to F3 all right is there some Prospect where you are just going to get smothered no you are just in time actually but Hikaru doesn't have enough time to figure all of that out he pins the pawn and now apparently the move Rook A1 here is winning Rook a one because if Rook to H2 there was F3 and this position when The Rook is not on B1 is a win for black because Rook B4 does not hit the Rook that was the difference in the other position that I showed you this comes with a Tempo on The Rook but in the other version that I showed you with the rook and I won in this position black can play F2 and the game is over black needs to hide the Rook to be able to push the pawns but Rook B2 he misses it now here comes Hikaru activating his Bishop but King F3 is the cold shower because now he has lost his final pawn and all the pawns will come down the board King G5 Pawn to B3 and the rook and the bishop just are ill-equipped to stop all of these pawns from falling Rook B8 B2 that pawn is a moment away from queening but it's also the king the king and the pawns are dancing in and that is it Rook to B4 Pawn to F2 take take and in this position Hikaru resigned because he's unable to capture this with the Discover check and he's unable to stall if he plays something like this it's check it's B1 and I got news for you I think Magnus Carlson knows how to checkmate with a king and a rook folks this was a wild wild Blitz game first of all starting with a 30 second time disadvantage as Magnus Carlson arrive late that grew to about a minute time disparity by the sixth move and it was a complicated convoluted game with Hikaru sacrificing the right to Castle magna's having a big Center a very fascinating middle and end game where actually after all the shenanigans it was Hikaru pulling ahead and trapping magnus's Knight on the edge of the board but a heroic defense where Magnus basically utilized all of his resources and this completely absurd idea of marching the king into the white position sacrificing his Knight and paralyzing the bishop Sensational stuff just absolutely sensation these two guys are definitely the best rapping and Bliss players in the world they are the best defenders in the world and in this game an Unstoppable force uh met a movable object and that immovable object was Magnus Carlson who despite being down a piece managed to extract maximum value from his resources and still win the game despite trailing by well kind of a bishop anyway I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you for Norway chess Recaps Magnus stunning Hikaru in a ridiculous ridiculous game now get out of here

Channel: GothamChess

Views: 2,024,080

Keywords: gothamchess, gothamchess london, gothamchess caro kann, gothamchess openings, gothamchess vienna

Id: S0ts-f9lDtU

Length: 18min 38sec (1118 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2023