A mouthwatering fight is on the cards today between the top two players in the world, who are the only members of the 2800+ Elo club currently. They have begun the tournament well also, beating two formidable rivals in Gukesh and Caruana, respectively, and thus taken an early lead in the event.
What can we expect in the game today? Both are all-rounders, capable of playing any kind of position on the board. Both of them are well prepared in openings, where they also show admirable depth and variety. Both have special endgame skills, too, Nakamura showing his skills even more frequently than Carlsen.
Nakamura is especially known for his aggressive style, defending ability, and long games. Of late, he has identified himself as a streamer rather than a serious classical player, but it is a claim which doesn't come across as entirely buyable :-)
Carlsen's quest for greatness is simply unmatched, as he has exhibited in the last decade and a half. In terms of playing style, Carlsen probably shows that extra bit of depth when it comes to strategic games, especially with the concept of positional sacrifices. Also, Carlsen did not start off as the tactical genius that Nakamura was known as in his formative years. It is an ability that he has developed over the years, after becoming one of the strongest in the world.
By now, I hope you can understand what I am trying to say: it is simply impossible to find any significant dominance that these two great players can show in any part of the game :-)
In case the classical game ends in a draw, it matters a lot as to the color of the opponents in the Armageddon. Whoever gets the black pieces might be considered the favorite, in my opinion!
Let us all hope that we have a show in our hands tonight!
He signals his intentions to play either the Ruy Lopez or the Italian Opening with black pieces. Unless he surprises us otherwise...
The Italian Opening has become such a mainstay of top players that, the 'old love' Ruy Lopez sometimes even comes across as a surprise when employed! Needless to say, Nakamura has played both of them frequently in the past.
It is almost a relief for spectators when combatants do not opt for the Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez in the opening, full of peaceful scenarios.
Nakamura signals his intentions not to enter into any theoretical battle today. This solid move avoids early skirmishes in the center and aims to postpone any pawn advances for later stages of the middlegame. White undertakes any such action only after castling his king and developing his army, especially the minor pieces.
Such a move is always based on aiming to play an active game, rather than keeping the bishop closer to the base rank, such positions being of a slow maneuvering type.
Black too decides not to undertake any action in the center immediately and prefers modest development. So, by the looks of it, we are going to have a subdued and patient maneuvering middlegame today.
The move is a common prophylactic maneuver—whenever White pushes his central queen pawn, Black's dark bishop not being in the center is good for the bishop—it avoids getting attacked. Thus, this is a ploy to save a move in the future
Nakamura probably wants to move the kingside rook now, and hence undertakes this prophylaxis. In this position, if White's light-squared bishop is placed on the queens bishop flank it'll be an exact position from the Italian opening. From this, we can understand that both players will be reviewing the intricacies of both openings when deciding on any course of action.
This is a move emplyed more in the Italian Opening than the Ruy Lopez. Talk about stealing ideas from one portion of your brain to another!
For students of the game, this is a clear example of the importance of knowing positions in a game by plans, rather than opening moves.
Nakamura, too, gets ready to reroute his own queen knight to the kingside. It will further help Nakamura to develop his dark bishop and finally decide on what to do with the center.
Their own game from FTX Crypto Cup Rapid tournament in 2021 had all the moves the same upto this point. Psyhcological thoughts, anyone!?
White moves his knight towards the kingside.
Now, he gets ready to develop his dark-squared bishop forward, thus completing his development.
Carlsen still continues to follow their earlier game.
Such moves always alter the course of the game, as they create tension in the middle of the board. It also makes the players to calculate variations henceforth, rather than just decide on piece placements and general strategy.
A fun fact is that, in their previous encounter, Nakamura moved is queen instead, avoiding any exchanges.
Now, if you watch carefully, Black leaves his central pawn undefended. But it is not possible to capture him - the dark bishop on a7 has a little tactical trick to capture the white pawn near the white king's camp. Thus, Carlsen makes use of a small tactic to make this natural move, moving his knight towards the center.
Though this looks like an active central thrust, it will actually lead to more simplifications, not giving much of an opening advantage for Nakamura. But a significant fact is that, he played the move quiet fast, as if he had worked it all out beforehand, as part of his opening preparation.
Both players are playing their moves quite fast here. Though the moves are almost forced, it also makes one suspect if this was all part of their pre-game preparations!
Carlsen decides to act! Though the move doesn't look quite right, as the pawn seems to hinder the power of Black's dark bishop, Carlsen has decided to advance his pawns on the queenside and bring out his light-colored bishop in the long diagonal. It seems to be advantage Carlsen, at this point!
Now, by freeing up his pawns on the queenside, Carlsen makes way for his light-colored bishop too to be developed in the long diagonal. Such tempo-gaining moves are always welcome - moves which attack an opponent's pieces, while implementing one's own agenda.
Thus, Black completes his development, both his bishops looking quite formidable, staring down at the center and White's kingside. Though he might not hold any significant advantage here, he should psychologically feel quite confident here.
Both our protagonists have been playing fluently so far, not consuming much time for their moves. They are almost equal to each other, with Nakamura having an hour and 17 minutes more on his clocks, with Carlsen just about four minutes more than that. It's Even Stevens on the clocks, so.
Carlsen at the Confession Booth! "I am just trying to play sensible chess!"
Nakamura at the Confession Booth! "The position is very bland here!"
This move instantly gets the white rook developed, in a way. Also, it's a standard ploy in the Ruy Lopez to make Black's queenside pawns feel a bit weaker. One concern for Nakamura here is that, White's pieces do not seem to be as dynamically placed as Blacks. They lack targets, to be specific.
Black's minor pieces mobilization is complete now. It is difficult not to be impressed with the placement of Black's bishops. Though not much action could commence immediately, they have more potential compared to their counterparts. In the long run, atleast.
This is an important moment on the chessboard. Whichever way the game has developed so far, White faces a Turning Point here: he has to think up a fresh plan, decide on his next few moves, and make a move in the new direction. Such moments are always important, the so-called "Turning Points'.
The strength of a chess player is often revealed in such moments, when a new plan has to be conceived.
Nakamura's clock handling is of concern here. He consumed 33 minutes for his previous move and has consumed more than 25 moves for his move right now! Indicator of a crisis in decision-making?
Nakamura's bishop move appears passive! It looks like his long think wasn't really helpful - the bishop move doesn't look effective in the position, as White's pieces are now more cramped than developed. Tough times for Nakamura?
After Nakamura's long thinks for the last two moves, we have a significant time advantage for Carlsen right now: he has more than an hour and five minutes on the clock, against Nakamura's thirty-four more minutes. That's a whole hour of advantage in time!
The next few moves are quite crucial, in terms of decisions on the board, as well as clock handling.
Black's queen move aims to plant one of his knights in a forward square, while connecting his rooks. Carlsen also underscores the dominance of dark squares by black pieces. By all means, Black's advantage seems to be slowly increasing, move by move.
Another mild mistake from Nakamura. In his eagerness to centralize his knight, he allows Carlsen to effect a crucial pawn push, which will further cramp White's position.
To be in a slightly difficult position and to be under the pressure of the clock is a twin bogey. It now remains to be seen if Carlsen would be able to take advantage on both these counts.
Accurate reply by Carlsen!
Taking advantage of the fact that the black pawn can't be captured, Carlsen finds a way to gain even more dominance over the position with this pawn push. More than a specific plan, Black simply dominates the position, with a superior pawn structure in the queenside, better placed pieces, and more space for his pieces.
The white queen comes out of her shell, getting ready to offer an exchange of queens, as well as reduce Black's threatened domination on the kingside.
Nakamura is known for his tenacity in fighting difficult positions. We see an indication of his strength here, finding a way to fight out of his troubles rather than senseless passivity or rash false-bravado.
The Black rook comes to the open file in the center, more of a testing choice than with any concrete plan. Now, White has to find a way to move forward, which is not easy considering the crampedness of his pieces.
Low on time, Nakamura understandably makes a positionally non-committal move, bringing his rook too to the center. However, he had a better choice in offering a queen exchange.
This is exactly the point when Carlsen is expected to start concrete action. His own 'Turning Point' as we discussed before!
Nakamura has achieved the 'seasoned pro technique' in the past few moves. While down on time and having a difficult position, he has understood the awaiting disaster if he continues to play slowly. Hence, he has made the past few moves in quick tempo, thus bringing his time on the clock almost equal to Carlsen's.
Carlsen makes a mild error, exchanging the queenside pawns.
With this pawn exchange, Black loses some of his advantage. Instead, he could have pushed his queenside pawn even further to gain more space. Or made a noncommittal move to strengthen the position.
Now, in the long run, White has one less thing to worry - any chronic pawn weaknesses on the queenside.
For the first time in the game, it is Nakamura who has more time in the clock now, though negligible. It indicates a deeper issue: unlike for the first twenty moves of the game, it is Carlsen who is hesitating in coming up with firm decisions in conducting the game now.
Carlsen has 25 minutes on the clock now, to Nakamura's 28.
Black needed this rerouting of the knight, to probe White's kingside later on.
The attacked white queen moves back, offering to exchange it off for her counterpart.
In taking his queen to the queenside, Carlsen fixes his eyes on two of the weak white pawns. But she was needed on the centre, to keep vigil on Black's queenside, as well as overseeing the exchange of rooks, if White offers it.
Nakamura insists on a queen exchange. But he had a better choice, in offering to exchange off all the rooks from the board.
Though his offer to exchange the queen appears logical, it gives Carlsen time to correct his earlier mistake. By moving his queen back to the earlier square, Carlsen will again correct it back to a better square, rather than the board's edge where she is out of action as of now.
Carlsen decides on a queen exchange. With this, almost all of Black's advantages are neutralized. It is clear that Carlsen came to this decision because he couldn't find any effective square to park his queen, ultimately.
This was a surprising decision, especially to understand how Carlsen wants to proceed with the position now.
It is almost without any advantage for either of the sides now, as it is difficult to find any weakness in either sides camp which can be attacked successfully.
By moving the knight to the center, he forces White's light squared bishop to exchange off the knight. In the resultant position, this is how Black can create a small advantage to keep the game going, with the bishop pair as a long term advantage.
He has captured the bishop pair in a position which is essentially of an open nature. Thus, he indicates that he still has a long term plan to squeeze for an advantage in this game!
A mild mistake by Nakamura.
Now, in the long run, this white knight will not be able to show much activity. It also allows the dark bishop to occupy an advanced position inside the white position.
It was expected that Carlsen would help himself to park this bishop in an advanced square.
The knight moves away, not to be captured by Black's dark-colored bishop. Now, he will threaten to attack Black's pawn on the rook file.
The black rook protects his pawn on the bishop file, allowing his light-colored bishop to move away, in case of getting attacked by Nakamura's knight.
Emphasizing the strength of a knight, Nakamura now threatens a nasty fork targeting the black rook and the bishop. This is the delight of possessing knights - make them dance around the board and scare the opponent with tactical threats!
Black threatens the other of white knights now. The game now becomes a bit of a street fight, with open threats and mutual aggressive displays of small tactics.
Ignoring the threat on his own knight, Nakamura proceeds with the planned fork
These are crucial moments, when even a small slip might give either of side a small advantage. It puts both Nakamura and Carlsen under pressure to be tactically accurate.
Avoiding exchanging his light-colored bishop for the white knight, Carlsen moves it out, attacking the white pawn on the flank.
Even in the final minutes of his clock, Nakamura finds the best tactical move on the board!
This also happens to be the final move of the game, as the combatants agree to a draw here. The bishops get exchanged off, thus reducing the scope of Black's advantage in the position, if any.
From the start of the game, Carlsen seemed to be playing near-perfect chess, building up a slight advantage right through the opening stages. It appeared from their collective Confessional Booth appearances that neither player had any concrete plan in the opening.
Either way, Carlsen managed to cook up an advantage, both on the board as well as the clock. However, Surprisingly inaccurate play by Carlsen saw him losing a large portion of it meanwhile.
For his aprt, Nakamura fought well, to neautralize the advantage on the board and get to an equal position. His best ploy in the whole game was to decide to play fast when being low on clock. Ultimately, it all came good for Nakamura, who managed to ward off Carlsen's pressure and managed to draw the game. Now, the Armageddon tiebreak beckons!