Carlsen vs Caruana: Day 3 - Rest day

"What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do"
- Aristotle 

......Not much to write about the second game.

.....yet it was not a boring draw ........as it happened in the past ......
It had certain moments of interests .......

  

 

.......and....hence I shall deal with the REST DAY!

Is this a state of rest......?

NO! Both the army is in readiness.....erect and ready for action.....a calmness which conceals huge rumble ....beneath....!.....State of inertia.....but.....

Possibly the most complex position!!


".....a longing for the articulated and immeasurable, for eternity....To rest in the arms of perfection .....a desire of any man intent upon creating excellence; and is not nothingness a form of perfection?" Thomas Mann asks this question through the mind voice of Aschenbach - his protagonist in Death in Venice!


Let us deal a bit with .....rest....beingness......nothingness.....

.....but to understand this, we have to deal with "unrest"....."doing"....which precedes Rest and Being!


Doing

Nakamura - Carlsen, Shamkir - 2014

Carlsen played.....25......Qf6   here

The analysis suggests .....26.Nh5!? here and after ......Nh5 27.Nd3

and Black has a weak pawn on d3 and his Bishop is no equal to White's.....true!

But Hikaru played.... 26.Nd3? allowing Carlsen to keep that Knight perched on d3 square and it ultimately proved the chief destructor!

26.....Nd3 27.Qe3 Rb7 28.Nh5 Qh6!

Could it be that White missed this.....when he went on a "doing" mode.....Else it makes sense to pluck the Knight out of d3 with 26.Nh5!

Carlsen - Caruana, Zurich - 2014

Caruana took a huge risk with his previous few moves in preparing and ultimately castling long! That....I value very high.....this extreme liking for risks....embracing the shadow of defeat all along!

21.bc4 Qc4 22.Rf7! Bf7 23.Rf7 Rd7

and the remaining Black Rook, after the exchange of this pair, proved ineffective against White's dark squared Bishop and the central pawns.

Though I love this attitude.....OOO is a result of "doing"!

Mamedyarov - Nakamura, Kolkata - 2018

15.Ncb5

A modest 15.Rfd1 perhaps was a move which keeps things in balance....though there is nothing wrong with the move played.....except that it puts Shakriyar in a doing mode.....

15.....e5 16.Nf5 Bf8 17.Bg5 h6 18.Bh4? 

This is the flipside of embarking on something inappropriate. All the three minor pieces of White are somewhat precariously placed. Probably White would have done him a favour by parting with that Bishop for f6 Knight. The Bishop ultimately landed on g3 and proved more a nemesis whilst its counterpart did all the damage in tandem with the Rook.



Now, we shall have a glimpse of "being" 


Being:

Bronstein - Rojahn, Moscow Oly - 1956

Bronstein, with possibly great calmness, played ......

8.de4!!

A piece sacrifice to obtain a central pawn phalanx and initiative!  And he just went with the flow....!

Portisch - Kavalek, Hoogovens, 1975

Kavalek landed in trouble early in the game....and instead of trying to defend the position passively, sought an active method....!

18.....fe3!!

A Queen sacrifice for one Bishop and its protector the e3 pawn!! And he too stayed in the moment and his choice which lead to a most bizarre imbalance, offsettled Portisch and the game finally ended in a "Just draw"! Kavalek was awarded brilliancy prize for his wonderful calmness and being in the moment!

A game which is worth studying multiple times!

Portisch - Tal, Amsterdam, 1964

Somehow, Portisch attracted such play by some of his esteemed opponents who more than raise up to the occasion....notwithstanding the objective truth of the position!

This time, it was the great Riga Magician himself!

Having misplayed the opening, Tal had no choice, but anyway play what he never shied away from...throughout his life.....giving up something (including his good health and kidney

14......Nc4!! 15.Nc4 cd5 16.Na3 d4!!  

When it comes to giving in Chess......no one can come even remotely close to Tal! Space, Time and Elements appeared differently to this great magician and allowed him to conjure wonderful pieces of art!

I have already dealt with this game in my blog.  It is one of my favourite both for the incorrigible optimism of one player and the incorrigible pessimism of the other!! Portisch, god knows what went through his mind, missed countless ways to win on countless times in this game and came even close to losing!!  For the most part of the game, the viewer would wonder what is happening and what Tal is intending with so many pieces down and the remaining ones hanging!

But, Tal too remained in the position perpetually in a being mode....despite so much commotion on the board which must have made many live onlookers scratch their head and go bald!


The chess form of "Rest" or resting is "being"!

Resting means not the physical.....but the inner calmness where the mind is obliterated and one revels in the present moment.

Sleeping is not rest! Why even the act of meditation is not rest!

Being....being in meditative state is rest.

Albert Camus wrote about this state of being, "There are places where the mind dies so that a truth which is its very denial may be born.....a heavy unbroken silence reigned there - something like a perfectly balanced pair of scales." Elsewhere, he wrote, ".....there is a time for living and a time for giving expression to life and there is a time for creating....For me it is enough to live with my whole body and bear witness with my whole heart. Herein lies a freedom."

....This freedom in remaining a mere witness to what is unfolding in front of your eyes, over-the-board, totally unperturbed...... is perhaps the greatest and most toughest art!

Rest are irrelevant......including the day called....."rest day"!


I Remain....