Mamedyarov-Carlsen, World Blitz Championship 2012
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Channel: ChesscomNews
Views: 1,610,850
Rating: 4.8804383 out of 5
Keywords: Chess, Astana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Magnus Carlsen
Id: _K990aJl820
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Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)
Published: Mon Jul 09 2012
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I believe it's because if Magnus takes the rook then his bishop will get taken off. Which leaves Magnus with only a rook to defend his only hope in getting a queen freeing up Mamendyrov to walk his pawns down the board.
After Rxb6 it's hard to see how white brings the rook back to defend against the f pawn. This is a very easy to calculate endgame.
Instead, had Carlsen taken the rook he would have had to calculate very quickly if the endgame with black running the f pawn and white sacrificing the bishop for it was winning.
Ultimately both are winning, but I believe one is easier to calculate than the other.
EDIT: I believe the move that gave the win away was Rg5+. Instead ...f2 wins. To be fair, it's difficult to see that you can drive the rook off the f file.