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Bad moment
Wesley So defeated Magnus Carlsen in two consecutive Meltwater Champions Chess Tour finals, both times on special dates, first on the world champion’s 30th birthday and now on Valentine’s Day. The ever-humble American grandmaster later apologized for ruining his opponent’s celebrations.
For Carlsen, this was a bad chess moment on day 2 of the final, as he incorrectly sacrificed a piece in game 1 and failed to make correct sacrifices in games 3 and 4. The world champion explained:
Today there were a few cases where I didn’t follow my intuition, which was just frustrating, especially considering the first game, where I made a sacrifice that didn’t work at all. […] Overall, it’s not a shame to lose, but I feel like I could have done a lot better with the opportunities I had today. I don’t think it will sit well tonight.
That is why he also mentioned that the level of play in the final had been very low. However, both Carlsen and the commentators agreed that So was a well deserved winner, as he was clearly superior in the two previous legs of the tie and showed good nerves during the final.
Speaking with Kaja Snare, So discussed her routine during these tournaments, noting that it is much more important to relax while the event unfolds, as in her case most of the preparatory work is done in advance.
The Philippine-born grandmaster leads the tour’s overall standings.
Tied for points at the top of the tour standings is Teimour Radjabov, who won the first event of the series and finished third in the Opera Euro Rapid tournament. The Azerbaijani convincingly defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the match for third place. After winning the first mini-match, Radjabov won the first two games of Sunday’s ‘set’ to secure the match victory.
An incredible mistake (for an elite player) from MVL gave ‘Raja’ the second win of the day:
Chess Endgames 14 – The Golden Endgame Guidelines
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White can move his king to any square around the rook, as if Black were the one to exchange rooks on the next move, a tied pawn ending would emerge. The only move White should do not play is 46.Kxg5, Vachier-Lagrave’s choice – 46 … Kxg5 the opposition immediately wins and Black will promote his pawn.
Referring to the error of the French, the great teacher Jonathan Rowson tweeted:
It’s hard to explain how shocking this is.
If we ever had to create a chess version of ‘do something that communicates to the outside world that they have taken you hostage in a way your captors won’t understand’, this would be it.
So 2½: 1½ Carlsen
The second mini-match of the final had to do with Carlsen’s piece sacrifices, the one he played and the ones he rejected. In Game 1, he was too optimistic on move 14:
14 … Bxh4 it just doesn’t work. As So demonstrated during his semi-final match against Radjabov, he is not one to lose his chances when he has material against dubious compensation. The American Grandmaster continued with 15.gxh4 Nxh4 16.Nxh4 Qxh4 17.Re3 and achieved a 28-move victory.
In Game 2, Carlsen got a slightly better position in the middlegame thanks to his pair of bishops. However, there were not enough imbalances in the position to create much against So’s solid play. The draw meant that the world champion only had one game left with white to try and tie the score.
Carlsen, however, did not have to wait until his next game with White for a chance to recover from his initial defeat. In Game 3, he refused to go for a sacrifice that would have given him a huge advantage:
My secret weapon: 1.b3
Meanwhile, 1.b3 has also made its way into today’s global elite practice, and now, finally, a modern top ten player has taken up the theme for ChessBase: none other than Grandmaster Wesley So!
Call for help 18.Qxd4 It was a mistake, since the queen is separated from the defense of the king’s position; if it had been captured with the c-pawn, the queen could quickly access the queenside along the d1-h5 diagonal. In the position in the diagram, both 18 … Bxh3 and especially 18 … Nxg2 are good for Black.
The world champion later confessed that he had missed that after 18 … Nxg2 19.Kxg2 Bxh3 + 20.Kh2 Nh4 (threatening a fork at f3) 21.Bd1 …
… Black has 21 … Bg2 winning. Anyway, Carlsen gave up a piece for three pawns later, but that alone was enough for a draw.
It all came down to game 4, when the world champion was in a situation where he had to win. A critical position emerged on move 23:
The light-squared bishop is threatened, but White could simply ignore the threat and launch a direct attack on the black king with 23.Kh1 axb3 24.Rg1 + Kh8 and the lethal 25.e6:
As the e-pawn advances, White frees the e5 square for his dark-squared bishop and Black is trapped. However, none of this was seen in the game, as Carlsen played 23.Bd1 and found himself in a worse situation soon after. The Norwegian confessed:
My intuition was to just yell Kh1.
Things could have turned out differently, but So showed great nervousness throughout the event, showing that, given the opportunity, he can defeat any elite player, including the world champion himself.
Select an entry from the list to switch between games
GM Karsten Müller analysis
Our in-house finals specialist took a closer look at both games from Day 2 of the match for third place. In the first, Radjabov defeated Vachier-Lagrave in a materially balanced finish with four rooks on the board.
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