Freestyle Chess Grand Slam - Paris
Commented by: Saravanan
Carlsen overcame Nakamura in an eventful first game of the finals. Carlsen's decision to sacrifice a pawn early in the game, unleashing tactics, was a spectacular decision. It also showed an important quality perhaps needed to shine at Freestyle Chess - the guts to react sharply whenever one is presented with an opportunity!
Such boldness, combined with an enormous self-confidence, is what makes a great chess player as Magnus Carlsen, what he is today! Only, due to the complicated and elaborate minefield that is opening preparation of current times, such creativity cannot be easily expressed in classical chess.
Nakamura is known for his defensive abilities - a special sense for making the best moves fluently over the board one by one, thus making it difficult for any opponent to overcome him, however hopeless his position might look. It was that special tenacity of Nakamura that saw him fight back and almost level the position, which looked hopeless for him at a certain point. And then the possibilities of drama, which are always possible on a chessboard, took off! The game saw mistakes by both players, which is always possible on a chessboard, with the hands of the chess clock mercilessly ticking down. At the end of it all, Carlsen emerged as the winner.
Will these human elements enable us to witness another great encounter today? Courage, guts, and adventurism, which produce such beautiful middle game clashes be repeated again today? Nakamura would definitely wish they would be, as he needs to forcibly win the game today and force a rapid chess tiebreak to fight back in the match.
We have an exciting game on our hands today! 🤺
What do we see on the board today?
The most important factor seems to be the king today - he definitely cannot remain where he was in the beginning! He has to get castled and run to safety. The king in the center is a dangerous piece, open to attack by the opponent's forces easily, after all.
The queens are placed funnily, which means they may not come out into the open easily, like the first game of the match yesterday, for instance.
As on many occasions in freestyle chess, both sides have one bishop already in Fianchetto, in the corner. The other bishop is in his natural square. Both knights have it the best: they can come out to their natural squares in their very first turns, just like classical chess.
All in all, the starting position looks quite resembled to a game of classical chess, after all. Which means, the initial moves will make a big impact: just like classical chess, it will set the tone for the rest of the game. Whether the game will take a tactical, positional, or maneuvering shade will be decided a lot by the initial moves.
Picture Courtesy: Screenshot of Freestyle Chess broadcast.
Not much of a surprise: Nakamura decides to play an unorthodox start with a flank move, a provocation! He has to induce complications from the beginning, after all.
Interestingly, in other games, Caruana and Arjun have also chosen the same first move. The sole 'defector' is Nepo, who preferred the more solid move of the kingside knight out on the first move.
A modest move by Carlsen, moving the flank bishop pawn on the queenside. The move immediately opens up the path out for the black queen, and attacks an undefended pawn on the kingside.
Nakamura saves the pawn, as well as gets his light-colored bishop, immediately getting his fianchetto.
A mirror image of White's previous move, getting the black dark-colored bishop too to get his own fianchetto
Developing the bishop, safeguarding the rook, and offering an exchange of bishops right away.
It was justified for Black not to exchange the bishops, as it gives up a tempo, while getting the white queen to come out to a nice diagonal. Also, assuming the black king might castled on the kingside, Black would prefer to keep the dark-colored bishop as a good guard for the castled king.
He makes his dark-colored bishop an important piece in the position.
Carlsen had predicted this during his appearance at the confession booth that this might be the result of not allowing the exchange of the dark bishops. This might also allow to fancy a tactical threat of the bishop going over to the dark square and even trap the black queen.
In the long run, this move also gives a breather for the black queen, as he can come out of his shell through the freed-up flank file.
White simply supports the attacked pawn, with his own pawn move
Black castles up, moves his king to safety
White develops his knight on the kingside, getting ready to castle his king too.
Black has now gone for a solid setup in the opening, and the position now resembles a reversed Dutch Defense setup of classical chess. In that, the advanced white pawn in the queenside flank stands unique. It might be a strength, controlling dark squares in its reach, or it might even become a weakness.
In the long run, this knight might also be eyeing the same outpost in the advanced central dark square.
Requiring just a draw today to wrap up the match, Carlsen probably decides to effect early simplifications. This might also be a psychological nudge at Nakamura, reminding him that he has to 'do something' to create something at the board to play for complexity on the board to win the game.
Carlsen spelt out his wisdom on the position, and pointed out a common 'problem' for both the players from this particular position of Freestyle Chess: the knights on the center squares, and where to develop them.
By and large, Carlsen predicted a slow game today: "I think ...we have an interesting battle on our hands, but more kind of a positional one, not a tactical one...".
Nakamura decides to exchange off the pair of dark-colored bishops.
White declines exchange of knights, gets ready to mount his own knight at the central outpost
Black prevents white knights from jumping ahead, gets ready to bring his own knight out
White castles up too, taking his own king to safety.
Black's other knight gets developed too, as expected.
A modest developing move for the white queen, looking over the long dark diagonal.
The black knight is jumping around admirably, eyeing a juicy outpost on the light square in the center!
Just a simple central pawn move.
The other black knight moves away, aiming to reroute itself, as well as making way for his own side's bishop to come forward.
With this knight move, White aims to stop the black knight from occupying the outpost in the center
With the end of the opening stage, it seems to be going Carlsen's way!
The main reason for Carlsen's domination of this position seems to be his better control of the center. With his own pawn occupying the center, he firmly controls the light squares. And by preventing the white knights from occupying the central outpost, he seems to be contesting the dark squares too!
Thus, we can safely say that Carlsen has prevailed over in the handling of the opening phase of this game.
Carlsen offers a knight exchange!
Nakamura declines, wishing to keep pieces on the board.
This knight move is more than the offer of an exchange of pieces: it is even a draw offer!
Obviously, Carlsen would be more than happy to repeat the position three times and settle for a draw.
Nakamura obviously declines to repeat moves, deviating from the earlier knight move.
The black knight retreats, and it's not entirely clear what its intentions are. It is understandable that Black wants to reposition a knight that was on the rim. But, it should be really risky for Black to aim for a central thrust, if that is what the aim of this knight move was.
Nakamura might even be ready to exchange the black knight for his bishop, if he dares to occupy the central outpost.
The black knight occupies an outpost, at the same time effects a double attack, attacking the white queen and a pawn. Carlsen also clears a bit of a traffic jam in his ranks, perhaps aiming to bring out his queen and bishop soon.
In an unlikely scenario, he might even be preparing to break open the center with a pawn thrust, which might be a little risky.
The attacked queen moves away, also protecting the attacked pawn.
Carlsen decides to take matter into his own hands and effects a central pawn move. Competitively, this was not necessary, as he could have simply played a waiting game to settle for a draw, but he probably could not resist expanding on the center and play for space advantage.
The advanced black pawn also attacks the white knight.
The attacked white knight moves away, and now White might look for ways to attack Black's center, which might have got a little 'loose' in the process.
Till about 20 moves, both sides were seemingly in a maneuvering struggle, when suddenly Carlsen unleashed a pawn expansion in the center. This was unexpected, as Carlsen need not be taking any risk in this game, as he just needs a draw to wrap up the match.
This is when we have to really ponder if it is even possible for a player of Carlsen's calibre to desist from such a possibility in the center when he sees one! He probably decided to make the game dynamic and interesting when he got the opportunity. After all, "Attack is the best form of Defense!"
The black queen moves to the center, to keep a protective eye on his own central pawns.
White decides to exchange away Black's knight on the outpost, removing its dominance in the position.
After the exchange of the pair of knights, White seems to be exerting a little bit of pressure on the black position. After all, in the absence of his dark coloured bishop, the black king's position appears a little weakened. Black's central pawns will also need constant protection.
The black king moves away, stepping off from the white queen's glare.
Black is also threatening to push his central pawn now, aiming to free up dark squares in the center for his knight to jump up.
A curious fact about this game is that, in spite of the importance of the encounter - this is the deciding game of the final, after all! - both the players are playing pretty fast. Is avoiding time pressure a bigger factor than the ability to play in time pressure!? ⏱️
Nakamura makes a crucial decision to fix the pawns in the center, hoping to exploit weaknesses in Black's position now. White has a good outpost available for his knight in the future in the dark square. He also has a backward black pawn on the flank to attack in the future, if he can combine his rook for the task. All said and done, he possesses the initiative here!
Instead of pushing his queen pawn, Carlsen prefers to exchange off the pawn. The position has become complex now, due to the broken nature of the pawn structure for both sides.
A small error, as Nakamura routinely captures back the pawn with his bishop. He had the opportunity to capture this pawn back with his knight instead, by rerouting the knight to this crucial central square.
Carlsen's bishop comes ahead to the kingside, positioning itself posing an inconvenience to White in the long run. Though there doesn't seem to be any concrete ideas behind this move, the very presence of the bishop on this advanced square should give Black chances for counter-attack in the long run. In a convenient scenario, Black might be threatening a checkmate on the bishop-file, but that is highly unlikely to materialize.
This retreat of the white bishop looked strange, apparently not serving any purpose.
Black prepares a Queen+Rook battery on the file, and even threatens a checkmate, though it is highly unlikely to succeed.
The white knight moves behind, attacking the .black bishop
With this knight move, Black supports his own bishop, while attacking the white knight with his Queen+Bishop battery.
The white queen comes to the support of the knight, guarding against the threat of Black's Queen+Bishop battery.
It looked a few moves ago that White had a small initiative, and Carlsen might have been forced into defense. But, the scenario has changed in the last couple of moves, as Carlsen's pieces are even eyeing the white kingside. However, Black's attack still does not look threatening, and the position must be level, with correct play from both sides.
In spite of the tense situation on the board, both the players seem to be having their heart-beat rate under good control. Carlsen has it at 78 beats per minute, wheras Nakamura has it at 91 BPM.
Carlsen seems to be quite confident about his position and goes on the offensive. Even though the position is dynamically level, Carlsen is not overly worried about weakening his central pawn and pushes it further. The black queen attacks the white rook now, which will be forced to move. It will be interesting to see, however, what Carlsen will be doing in the future.
The attacked rook moves away, and now White has piled up ALL his pieces on Black's central pawn.
Black calmly defends the pawn with his queen. Though the black pawn looks shaky, it is tactically well protected. Any capture of the pawn by any of White's pieces would be a tactical mistake.
With this calm queen move, Black also attacks the far-away white pawn on the flank.
Perhaps not finding any way to bring any more pressure to Black's position, White captures the black pawn with his bishop. This exchange should allow Carlsen to simplify the position and achieve a draw which he needs.
The point - instead of capturing back the white knight, Black can capture the white pawn, thus restoring material parity. The resultant ending should be equal.
Shielding the bishop file with the knight, still forcing Carlsen to play accurately, to save the black knight.
Carlsen plays the accurate move, attacking the white knight with his pawn, triggering another round of captures and simplifications on the board.
Sensing that his chances to play for a win have evaporated, Nakamura settles for a mass exchange of pieces. The game will liquidate into an equal endgame now.
White is forced to recapture with the queen, as otherwise his kingside might get weakened.
After mass exchanges, the game reaches a level rook endgame.
White activates the rook and gives a check to the black king, en route to attacking the black pawns on the queenside.
White rook attacks the black pawn
Black king defends the flank pawn. White should be careful not to overextend and end up defending this position!
White hopes to repeat the position and settle for a draw
The black king moves out of the white rook's check.
Black is not interested in saving his own pawn - he attacks the white pawn, aiming for quick liquidation.
It's a fairly equal rook endgame now.
In a game where he needed a draw to clinch the title of the championship itself, Carlsen brought proactive energy to the board today.
After a calm opening phase, the game looked like proceeding on the lines of a maneuvering struggle. Just when it looked like Carlsen was safely on his way to maintain equality and achieve the much-needed draw, he decided to get active with a pawn thrust in the center.
He thus made the position double-edged, instead of a safe approach to parity. Carlsen even seemed to go on the offensive in the middlegame, setting up an attack on the bishop file on the kingside with his Queen+Bishop battery. He achieved his objective as Nakamura couldn't find any let-ups in Carlsen's position and had to force equality by mass exchange towards the end of the game.
Thus, Carlsen once again proved the old wisdom, "Attack is the best form of Defense!"