Carlsen vs Caruana: Game 1: Street brawl

"The problem is that, on the board, one sees only the outward aspects of the position - the placing of the pieces - and the interconnections between them are concealed from view...." 

- David Bronstein

It was pleasing to see a fight on the board......after long!

.....and possibly most of it happened on the board....!

Caruana - Carlsen, WC 2018: Game 1

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bc6 dc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7

A slight deviation from what he did in Tata Steel 2015 against the same opponent, to avoid what could have happened....then!  Carlsen played 7.....b6 (instead of ......Nd7), then and the game continued.... 8.Be3 e5 

9.OO
.....the last two moves reflects true chess perception in over-the-board-play....whomsoever you may be....Magnus or his challenger or......perhaps.... even god!

Both the players had overlooked the possibility of.....9.Ne5! Ne4 10.Qf3!  .....perhaps, they may have seen it.....but perceived it differently.....as human perception is seldom constant and never close to anything that might be called as 'absolute' or  'perfect'! At times, even the obvious will look unobvious or as it happens....hidden!

So much for mere seeing what is in front of your eyes.....and if you get into what that implies....you are into a different world!  Gerald Abrahams said, "The endeavour by the players, each to achieve control by means that vision reveals, is, in reality, a struggle by each mind against its own limitations. Always the Chess player is playing against himself. The nature of the effort is most easily recognised whenever the mind fails to grasp the whole completely. Then we have error - the grasp of the insufficient - and because of the wealth of possibilities in the matrix of the Chessboard, a degree of error is almost always manifesting itself, even in the play of the greatest masters."


8.Be3 e5 

Btw.....the same position was reached in Wang Hao - Carlsen in World U-14 in 2003
......so what!

9.OO b6 10.Nh2 

A novelty....perhaps.....or the game may have deviated even a little before......my database strikes a plateau.....if you shrug off the two inconsequential games. This shows the willingness to take on the opponent to a street brawl...

10......Nf8!?

This Knight hopped forth and back for some time, to let the Bishops take command of the situation.

11.f4 ef4 12.Rf4 Be6 13.Rf2

Perhaps, the Rook was not comfortable .....being on a square where Black Bishop can attack.....
....perhaps.....Caruana is purely waiting!

Chess Commentary is a very difficult task! In Cricket or Tennis, the commentator is with the flow and describes what has happened, the ball that has been bowled or the one that has been smacked, or a beautiful bit of fielding or the description of a stunning catch or even bodyline attack, in the case of Cricket and.......a wonderful passing shot, a great serve or volley.....a brutally slow and dipping drop shot.....as in the case of Tennis.

In Chess, the move that one plays, seldom reveals anything....and least of all, what is transpiring in the mind of the player! Except for the brief interludes when the abstractness allows glimpses of minor tactical possibilities or when the game meanders its way out of the chaos into clear stream of reasoning where concreteness rules.....the commentator has to keep guessing and what he would reveal is his own....mind! In effect, he plays for both the sides.....!

Lombardy, in his great book "Understanding Chess", wrote....."A player somehow conceives of an idea. Then he commands his mind's eye through use of imagination as a necessary tool, to conjure up a picture of the concept. Then, that picture ultimately becomes a possible objective in the game in progress."

I am, tempted to draw the analogy of "film editing" for this process of conceiving an idea over the board and enabling one to keep the game progressing .....Walter Murch, the great editor said, "...in a certain sense, editing is cutting out the bad bits, the tough question is, what makes a bad bit?"

Perhaps, a Chess player tacitly edits many "bad-bits" before arriving at the move that he plays. For, for every move that he decides to play, he discards many others! But that question raised by Murch holds true ....."what constitute a bad bit"


13.....h6 14.Qd2 g5 15.Raf1 Qd6 16.Ng4 OOO 17.Nf6 Nd7 18.Nh5

This White Knight.....like his counterpart.....covered a lot of ground....and god knows what he pursues! Well, we can find some reason and the player might have another......and perhaps, that Knight would have had some too!

18.....Be5 19.g4 f6 20.b3

Suddenly Caruana remembers that he has a Queenside and a Knight who is cooling his heels for sometime! Perhaps, an admission that, he does not find anything worthwhile to do - in other words - a waiting move!

20.....Bf7 21.Nd1 Nf8!

Let me attach an exclamation mark to this! This move is opening a line and chess game happens on open lines and geometrical motifs! Also, that wandering Knight (and his counterpart too!) finally finds salvation!

22.Nf6 Ne6 23.Nh5 Bh5 24.gh5 Nf4 25.Bf4 gf4


With the g-file open, the King will not be comfortable sitting there and shortly he will embark on a journey to the Queenside.

26.Rg2 Rhg8 27.Qe2 Rg2 28.Qg2 Qe6 29.Nf2 Rg8 30.Ng4 Qe8 31.Qf3 Qh5

Black commands more space.....his Bishop is master of dark squares especially on the long diagonal both his Queen and Rook are pretty active. Hence Black should be clearly better!

But this better is still in the region of abstractness and hence neither the players nor the commentators can pinpoint on "what" and "how".

32.Kf2 Bc7!

Ofcourse!

33.Ke2 Qg5 34.Nh2 h5!

"The greatest advantage in Chess is to have the next move" said Bronstein. Black's next moves are easy. He either will have to keep pushing his pieces further into enemy territory or cut down the space for White pieces.

The move played cripples White Knight and a Knight without space and squares to jump is worse than a donkey!

35.Rf2 Qg1 36.Nf1

.....at least, it serves as an undergarment to cover his King from bottom....while Caruana puts his hands on his head!

36.....h4 37.Kd2 Kb7 38.c3

 This seemingly provides some indemnity on the dark squares. And Carlsen took 1 hour 26 minutes for the next move!

38......Be5 

Surely Carlsen must have "calculated' the consequences of 38.....Rg3.....and perhaps if he had not spent that long a time.....he may of settled for this move and perhaps would have impacted the result! I have not listened to their post match interview and hence not privy to what transpired. But certainly that exchange sac is bread and butter for Magnus under normal circumstances.

38.....Rg3 39.Ng3 hg3 40.Rg2 Qa1! The timing is perfect for the Queen and Bishop to combine and make inroads as the unprotected Rook on g2 forbids the Queen from venturing out. At least, the pressure would have been immense on Fabi and the game may not have lasted long!

39.Kc2 Qg7 40.Nh2 Bc3 41.Qf4 Bd4 42.Qf7 Ka6 43.Qg7 Rg7

And Fabi would have sighed a great relief with the Queens off the board and his pieces getting breathing space!

I conclude this article here......as it is effectively the final turning point and the game slowly drifts towards equilibrium from here....though Fabi had to fight is way to the draw for another 70 moves!

1/2 - 1/2

This draw is much sweeter than certain wins in the previous editions!  The match potents real street fight!


......I remain