Two games from round 3: Paths..... too many: blame it on the choice!

"Chess has been represented, or shall I say misrepresented, as a game - that is, a thing which could not well serve a serious purpose, solely created for the enjoyment of an empty hour. If it were a game only, Chess would never have survived the serious trials to which it has, during the long time of its existence, been often subjected." 

                                                                                                                - Emanuel Lasker 


And the problem stems from this very aspect of not considering Chess as a game....primarily. Lasker considered Chess as a fight and therefore, history records many instances of bitter feud, exploitations amongst great minds of this game, including Lasker.

This has now trickled down far below and hence, most of the promising young talents burnout much before they could blossom!  This very basal human tendency to over exploit has lured them to resort to extraneous means like overuse of engines to aid progress and therefore crippling the immeasurable ability of the mind to understand and express.

You add too many stakes to it, titles, rating and all those endless and meaningless pursuits... meaningless because, it overrides the primary objective of the act of playing chess - creation and fun! Rather than converging on the act of creating and suspending every other thought, the mind gets confused....

....and don't feel bemused...these days, the confusion starts in the following position....!

No, I am certainly not joking, surely you know what I say...heart of hearts!

Yang Tzu was a philosopher who lived in 5the century BC.  One day Yang Tzu's neighbour, who lost a sheep, sent all his men out to find it, and asked Yang Tzu's servant also to join in the search.

" What !" exclaimed Yang Tzu. " Do you need all those men to find one sheep ?"

" There are so many paths it may have taken," the neighbour explained. When his servant returned, Yang Tzu asked him : " Well, did you find the sheep ?"

He answered that they had not. Then Yang Tzu asked how they had failed to find it.

" There are too many paths," replied the servant. One path leads to another, and we didn't know which to take, so we had to come back.

At that Yang Tzu looked very thoughtful and fell silent for a long time....! 

'When there are too many paths, a man cannot even find his sheep' is the moral of the story!

White: Fabiano Caruana - Black: Magnus Carlsen

After sidestepping multiple paths, both players landed in this position, which is in equilibrium! The play revolves around the central squares and the action on the wings are only complementary to this primordial struggle.  

13) Nb1!?

The commencement of the drift or more precisely the sway, under the pretext of re-grouping.  The move slightly lessens the hold of the central square.  The Knight again comes to bear on the central square subsequently and exchange itself for the Black's Knight.  

Is that not a waste of time!?  Certainly not, as the position is not open yet to make such concessions serious.  But, certainly White had options here....f2-f4; Nd2-f3, for eg.

Black too had his options, but went in for the thematic exchange of that strong Knight on e5, which is generally considered a thorn in the flesh!

13) .....Be5!? 14) de5 Ne4; 15) Qe2?!

..... a move, when you are in doubt!  Could 15) cd5 be appropriate now!?  Don't refer the engines, whatever 'it' says, be sure that it will say the reverse at some other time! 

Chess struggle primarily revolves around fight for central squares...'howmanyevertimes' you may have to repeat this trite statement of truth!!  The act of central resolution and dissolution is very delicate and is akin to child birth: you never know what is the best time for deliverance!!  It is an uncanny art which comes by experience and after years of search standing on the shoulders of giants who have gone by...!

15) .....a4; 16) Nc3 ab3

16) .....a3 is a matter of preference; Carlsen himself has played it earlier and may opt for it at a later date!

17) ab3 Qb4; 18) Ne4 de4; 19) Qc2 Nc5; 20) Bc3 Qb3; 21) Qb3 Nb3; 22) Rb1 Nc5; 23) Rb6 Na4; 24) Rb7 Nc3; 25) Re7 Rfe8; 26) Re8

Here Carlsen suggest the lateral movement of Rook to c7 and e7...to and forth.  And it is here that Caruana started drifting further and further towards precipice, refusing to hold on and finally dropped...!

26) .....Re8; 27) Ra1 Rd8; 28) Bf1 c5; 29) Ra3 Nb1

30) Ra1

This is an inch towards regression!  30) Ra6 still ensured draw through counterplay on Black's weak pawns. For eg., if 30) .....Rd1; 31) Ra8 followed by Ra7 etc with a Kg2 in-between.  It's a common knowledge that the Rook requires greater breathing space, mobility and loves to be on 7th rank....

30) .....Nd2; 31) Be2 Nf3; 32) Bf3 ef3; 33) h3 h5; 34) g4 fg4; 35) hg4 h4; 36) Kh2 Rd2; 37) Kh3 g5! 38) e4 Rd4

...and Carlsen clinically executed White in a few more moves. The question is "what happened to Caruana, midway in this game?" The moves played does not befit the stature of a super GM. Off day in office or fish out of water in that not so lively opening set-up!?

White: So Wesley - Black: Adams Michael

It was Michael Adams turn to struggle with too many choices and he finally landed in the position given above, where he has already compromised considerably...., weak light squares around his King, and White's double Bishops - especially the light squared one is in all readiness!

33) .....Rc6?

A serious crime on many accounts.  It leaves the d8 Rook unprotected which allowed the White isolani on e3 to walk like an emperor, while his counterpart on d5 stood his ground, played no part even though everything happened around him and inspite of him!

34) e4! Bb4; 35) e5!

Watch how this pawn feeds on the unprotected Rook on d8, perpetually!!

35) .....Be7; 36) Qb3 Qc5; 37) ef6 Bf6; 38) Ne4!

Chain reaction, effectively sealing Black's fate!

38) .....Qc4; 39) Nf6 gf6; 40) Qg3 Kf7; 41) Rde1 Qb4; 42) Re7 Qe7; 43) Re7 Ke7; 44) Qg7 Ke8

The King was shunted back to his original square, and

 45) Bg4  drove the final nail in the coffin!

So, where was the fight in the two games that we saw now? 

One side seemed to have groped indecisively... and for want of reason, I blame it on the choice!