Carlsen-Nakamura Game 3 Analysis : Magnus Carlsen Invitational

after 2 games score was 1-1. Magnus is white against Hikaru. They play a Queen's Gambit again.

[Event "Magnus Carlsen Invitational Final 3"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[Date "2020.05.03"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. O-O c5
9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc4 a6 11. Ng5 b5

Here's the  first key moment after 11..b5

Magus prepared this line and uncorked 12 Be6! fe6 13Ne6 forking the Queen and Rook. Magnus gets Rook and two versus Bishop and Knight.

Second key moment after 17..Qd5 : can you guess what White (Magnus) played ?

18 f3! The point is that White needs to get f3,e4 in motion and play 4 pawns versus 2. Giving the a2 pawn is no big deal, as the two pieces against rook will struggle against pawn advances.

Position after Queens were exchanged (24...Ne8). White to play: what is the best move ?

Here Magnus played 25 Bb4! Excellent move, as praised  by Alexander Grischuk on air (chess.24 commentary with Jan G and Peter Svidler). White locks down pawns a6 and b5 and gets ready to get his kingside pawns rolling. Nakamura said it was a brilliant move by Magnus in his stream recap.Chess engines evaluation don't reflect the fact  it is very hard to defend and save for Black.

 Position after 25.Bb4!

Magnus kept pressing and here's another key moment after 34..a5, White to play

Magnus spotted the best move 35 Rd5! attacking b5 and h5. Hikaru thought a5-a4 was a threat but White is in time to grab several pawns. Next moves were 35..a4? 36 Rxh5 Nef4 37 Rg5

Last key position after 44...Bd3, White to play :

Here Magnus played 45.Kg6! threatening h5-h6 and avoiding 45 e5? Kf7 with Black trying to achieve a blockade on dark squares.

White ended up winning the game in 52 moves , 2-1 in the match with Hikaru in a must-win situation with White in Game 4.

[Event "Magnus Carlsen Invitational Final 3"]
[Site "chess24.com"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2863"]
[BlackElo "2736"]

 1. d4Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 dxc4 8. O-O c5
9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc4 a6 11. Ng5 b5 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Nxe6 Qe7 14. Nxf8 Qxf8
15. Ne4 Bb7 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Rc1 Qd5 18. f3 Qxa2 19. e4 Nf8 20. Rf2 Rc8 21.
Rxc8 Bxc8 22. Qd8 Qe6 23. Bd6 Qe8 24. Qxe8 Nxe8 25. Bb4 Ne6 26. Rd2 Kf7 27. Kf2
Nf6 28. Ke3 g5 29. Rd6 Nd7 30. g3 Ne5 31. b3 h5 32. h4 gxh4 33. gxh4 Ng6 34.
Be1 a5 35. Rd5 a4 36. Rxh5 Nef4 37. Rg5 axb3 38. h5 Nf8 39. Bc3 b4 40. Bb2 N8e6
41. Rf5+ Kg8 42. Rxf4 Nxf4 43. Kxf4 Ba6 44. Kg5 Bd3 45. Kg6 Bb5 46. f4 Be8+ 47.
Kg5 Bc6 48. e5 Bd5 49. f5 Kh7 50. e6 Bc4 51. Kf6 Be2 52. Ke7 1-0

game 3 Wch Caruana-Carlsen Draw Sicilian Rossolimo

Key moments of Game 3

[Event "Wch 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.11.12"] [Round "3"] [White "Fabiano Caruana"] [Black "Magnus Carlsen"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 7. Re1 e5 8. a3 Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 cxb4 13. axb4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 Raa8 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb4 Rfe8 18. Bc3 b5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Qa7 22. Bc3 Qa2



23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2 f6 25. Kf1 Kf7 26. Ke2 Nc5 27. Bc3 Ne6 28. g3 Bf8 29. Nd2 Ng5 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nb3 h5 32. Bd2 Bd6 33. c3 c5 34. Be3 Ke7 35. Kd1 Kd7 36. Kc2 f5 37. Kd1



fxe4 38. dxe4 c4 39. Nd2 Nc5 40. Bxc5 Bxc5 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Nf1 b4 43. cxb4 Bxb4 44. Ne3 Kc5 45. f4 exf4 46. gxf4 Ba5 47. f5 gxf5 48. Nxc4 Kxc4 49. exf5 1/2-1/2



also available here chessbase : Caruana-Carlsen-wch(3) 2018 annotated.html

Analysis Carlsen-Karjakin Game 3 . Karjakin miraculous defense saved the day and half a point

Instant analysis of the ending and endgame drama here
http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/14/Game85566625.html
pgn analysis here ( game3)
http://www.viewchess.com/cbreader/2016/11/14/game85566625.pgn

Official website: www.worldchess.com

Carlsen was pressing during the entire game but let the win escape

key positions

After 67 Re6!, Carlsen was winning

Karjakin(Black)

Carlsen(white)

Position after 67 Re6!

but after Carlsen chose the wrong plan with White, Karjakin could save the game here

Black to play :

                                                                      Karjakin(Black) to play

Carlsen(white)

Position after 70 Nc6

Black took on f5 with the king. Thats a blunder. 70..Rc3!! was eventually snatching the b3 pawn and the game would fizzle into N+R for white against R for black which is a theoretical draw. see pgn file for details. 70..Rb3?? 71Re6+ Kf5 72Nd4+ would lose. Karjakin missed this key move.

But in the following position, White played 72.Rb7?? and after 72..Ra1!!, Black was able to save the half-point. Great defense by Karjakin, and missed opportunity by Carlsen.

Position on 72nd move, White to play

Carlsen chose 72Rb7? here letting the win escape. 72Rf7+ followed by Rf2! using the white rook to defend against passed pawn h3 while hanging on to b3 pawn was key.

Kudos to Svidler and Hansen from chess24.com for staying up so late commenting without a chess engine. Great stuff !
Kudos to Chessbase for providing the Chessbase viewer/