Norway chess 2016: Round - 3: A rabbit in lion's den!

The woods are lovely, dark and deep!
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep 
And miles to go before I sleep 
                                                                                                    - Robert Frost


Magnus Carlsen - Nils Grandelius; Norway - 2016
1.e4 c5; 2.Nf3 Nf6!?

Dusted out from history.....or is it!?

Hypermodern - as they used to call this approach.....attacking the center with a piece as opposed to using the pawns; and provoking the adversary pawns to 'over-advance' his central pawn!

......by the way, does it not obey the classical precepts.... Knights out before the Bishops!?

3.e5 Nd5 

Nimzowitsch, the founder of this defensive setup....whose name it bears, had the audacity to take back to g8, a number of times!

4.Nc3 Nc3

Rubinstein has created some beautiful poetry in this Nimzowitsch's Sicilian!

Max Euwe - Akiba Rubinstein, Hague - 1921



4.d4 cd4; 5.Qd4 e6; 6.c4 Nc6; 7.Qd1 Nde7!

 The move threatens the e5 pawn!

 8.Bd2 Ng6! 9.Qe2 Qc7; 10.Bc3 b6; 11.h4?!

 White would love to play g3 covering the square 'f4' from that audacious Knight, followed by Bg2 and OO!  But unfortunately, the weakness of e5 in combination with the control of the long diagonal a8-h1 by Black forestalls such intentions!

 11.....d6; 12.ed6 Bd6; 13.Nbd2 Nf4; 14. Qe3? Bc5; 15.Qe4 f5; 16.Qc2

 A very generous Queen!

 16.....OO; 17.g3 Ng6; 18.h5 Nge5; 19.Ne5?! Ne5

 The role of that 'great Knight' is taken over by his colleague....to do the last rites!

 20.b4?



Nobody needs to remind Euwe that such moves does not have place in principled play of chess.....the position is bad, but even then, you are duty bound to play the principled move.....which here would be to develop the f1 Bishop either to e2.

 20.....Bf2! 21.Kf2 Ng4; 22.Ke2 Qg3; 23.Bd4 Bb7; 24.Rh3 Qd6; 25.Qc3 e5! 26,Bg1f4; 27.c5 Qh6; 28.Ke1 e4! 29.Rh4 Qg5; 30.Qh3 Ne3; 31.Be3 fe3; 32.Bc4 Kh8; 33.Nf1 Qf6 0 - 1

Yates - Rubinstein, Hague - 1921




4......e6; 5.g3?! Nc3!; 6.bc3 Nc6; 7.Bg2 d6; 8.ed6 Bd6; 9.OO OO; 10.d4 Be7!?

 Rubinstein continues absolutely in the spirit of hypermodern precepts....he prefers to cover the square 'g5' not by the conventional .....h6, but by relocating a piece which was controlling the all important 'e5' square! But moving pawns in front of their King was also abhorred by the classicists!

 11.Qd3 Bd7; 12.Rb1 Na5?!

 This is some audacious play.....a truly classical player indulges in flouting everything that is considered classical!  Here he relinquishes the control of e5 square, totally!

 What is important in not to check whether these are correct....but how Black managed to lure his opponent.....and confuse him!

 I love look at the creation....in whole......and not the solitary moves....!

For those who counter this, look at this miniature from a very modern player....
Becerra Rivero - Hikaru Nakamura, USA - 2009
1.e4 c5; 2.Nf3 Nc6; 3.e5 Nd5; 4.Nc3 e6; 5.Nd5 ed5; 6.d4 Nc6; 7.dc5 Bc5; 8.Qd5 d6; 9.Bc4 Qe7; 10.Bg5 f6; 11.OOO de5; 12.Rhe1 1 - 0


13.Ne5 Be8; 14.Be4!

 White is weaving a nice trap, whilst transiting beautifully from the opening to middlegame....yet....

 14.....h6; 15.Rd1 Qc7; 16.Bf4 Bd6! 17.Qe2! cd4; 18.cd4 Rc8; 19.Bd3?!


This move releases the pressure in the center and on the b7 pawn and allows the estranged Knight to get back into the game.  The British players, in particular, always loved to mate.....even if the chances are remote.....they were fearless and possessed imperial arrogance!!

 Conceptually, 19.d5 looks good and in the spirit of the position...it is based on Black's vulnerability in the center and the outcast Knight on a5. Perhaps, Rubinstein would have played that move instantly if he had been playing White......Tal and Bronstein would not have winked their eyes even!

 19.....Nc6! 20.Qe4 f5; 21.Qe3 Ne5; 22.Be5 Be5; 23.de5 b5! 

 After this move, the engines will keep saying it is "0.00"....just don't bother about that!

 24.Bb5 Bb5; 25.Rb5 Qc2; 26.Qb3 f4! 27.Qe6 Kh8; 28.Rf1 f3; 29.Rbb1 Rce8; 30.Qd5?

The human move......human error on which the outcome in a Game of Chess is decided. The following Black move should not been allowed....and when he had the option to defend that square and attack Black, White was duty bound to play the move 30.Qd7!

 30.....Qf5! 31.Kh1?

 White panics after realising what is looming.

 31.....Re5; 32.Qd6 Rf6; 33.Qd8 Kh7; 34.g4 Qg4; 35.Rg1 Qe4! 36.Rb8 Rg5; 37.Qg8 Kg6; 38.Rbb1 Rg2! The poetry is completed!
......and the game finished in few more moves in Rubinstein's favour! 

 Rubinstein had played yet another masterpiece with this opening.....against Reti and won a great Bishop vs Knight endgame!


.....I am getting back to Carlsen - Grandelius....!




5.dc3 Nc6

Salo Flohr played 5.....d5 against Stalhberg in Hamburg Olympiad, 1930....and reached the following position.... (by the way, it looks as though I may not reach Carlsen - Grandelius....!)



12......f6!

 A beautiful move in the spirit of the position!  The struggle now is to gain control of squares in the center and aim to seize initiative!

 13.cd5 Nb4; 14.d4 Nd5; 15.Bg3 c4; 16.Rfc1 Rc8; 17.Nd2 Nb6; 18.Ne4 Kd7! 19.f3 Nd5; 20.Bf2 b6; 21.Nd2?! c3! 22.bc3 Nc3; 23.Kf1 Ba3!


.....and Flohr assumed a clear advantage and went on to win the game!



What have I done......am I not supposed to be writing about the game Carlsen - Grandelius.....

 .....no, that was only a pretext.....
......for Grandelius was as dazed as a Rabbit put in the ring.....facing a Lion....!

 நான் காற்று வாங்கப்போனேன் பல கவிதை வாங்கி வந்தேன்!

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