[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.22”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Wojtaszek, Radoslaw”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2691”]
[BlackElo “2847”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[ECO “E06”]
[Opening “Catalan Opening: Closed”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 { This position is known as the Closed vatiation of the Catalan opening. } 4… Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O { Up to this point Carlsen has had this position a few other times against Kramnik, Ding Liren, and Aronian. } 6… a5 { This move is a novel move from Carlsen’s other games. This also takes white out of theory. } 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. e4 { First move where there are no GM games in the database. } 9… Bb7 10. Rd1 Na6 { The point of this move is to exert pressure on the b4 square as well as potentially to reroute the knight toward c7.
This seems to be the first move that was not a theory as it was at this point where the players started to take more time to make the moves. } 11. e5 { The first novel move in the database. } 11… Nd7 12. cxd5 Nb4 13. Qb1 cxd5 14. Nf1 Ba6 15. Ne3 Rc8 16. a3 Nc6 17. b3 b5 { Black took nearly 20 minutes to play the move b5. The alternative to playing b5 was to play Be2. } (17… Be2) 18. h4 { This move actually proves to be hugely detrimental later on. Since the move Bb2 was not played activating the bishop later on the three pieces in the corner get tied up and are not able to get to the defense of the king in time. } 18… b4 19. a4 { White should have moved the rook up to d2 to stop the bishop moving to e2. } 19… Be2 20. Rd2 { At this point it is much to late to attack the bishop as the point was to trade the knight anyway. What white needed tp play was to play Bb2 in order to activate the piece but this plan was again missed by white. } 20… Bxf3 21. Bxf3 f6 { White has a strong control of the center so by playing f6 the structure is being undermined and once the F pawn is removed the F file will be completely open for the rook. } 22. Bg4 f5 { This moves seems to push black to attach the bishop rather than open up the center of the board. If fxe were to be played the bishop now also pressures the e6 pawn. } (22… fxe5 23. Bxe6+) 23. Nxf5 exf5 24. Bxf5 Bxh4 { The better move in this position to keep the advantage was to play Kh8 with the intention to move out of a check once the bishop takes h7. The problem is that this bishop move is extremely tricky because the only way to not borderline lose the game is to play Rd1. } 25. gxh4 (25. Rd1 { The idea is to open the row for the rook to play on the H file where white is building pressure. } 25… Kh8 26. Kg2 Qe8 27. Bxh7 { Taking the h7 pawn is too dangerous and results in the loss of either the bishop on h7 or the rook on d1. This would be completely lose the game for white. } 27… Qh5) 25… Qxh4 { This was a blunder by black. There was a hidden tactic in this dynamic position. } (25… Ndxe5 26. dxe5 Nxe5 { A fork is threatened and the white position is completely busted despite being up an entire piece black has a huge dynamic advantage with more pressure on white’s open king. } 27. Kg2 Qxh4 28. Bxc8 Qg5+ 29. Kf1 Nf3 30. Be6+ Kh8 31. Bxd5 Nxd2+ 32. Bxd2 Qxd2) 26. Be6+ Kh8 27. Qd3 (27. Bxd7 { While this looks like a free knight it is actually too dangerous to take as the black attack is much too strong with no defense for the king. } 27… Rcd8 28. Bxc6 Qg4+ 29. Kh2 Rf3 { Despite being down two whole pieces all of white’s pieces are tied up on the left side of the board and no one is protecting the king. }) 27… Ndxe5 { While still a decent move it is much too slow at this point as white has already activated the queen a bit and the pieces can make it to the defense of the king in time. } 28. dxe5 Nxe5 29. Qxd5 Nf3+ 30. Qxf3 Rxf3 31. Bxc8 Rf8 32. Bb7 Qf6 33. Rda2 { This is really the only move because despite the queen and rook eyeing down the f2 pawn there is no real threat. } (33. Raa2 { This move would prove disastrous because despite keeping defense on the f2 pawn after attacking the white squared bishop, the black squared bishop would be lost. } 33… Qe7 34. Bc6 Qe1+ 35. Kh2 Qxc1 36. Rac2 Qe1 37. Re2 Qb1) 33… Qf7 34. Bg2 Qxb3 35. Be3 Rd8 { At this point, it is extremely difficult to make progress for either side. The thing is black still has the best winning chances by playing moves like Rd8+. After trading down black will have the queen vs a rook and two bishops but will have two passed pawns. The problem is that black has only 2 minutes on the clock and without time to analyze the position does not look clear. } (36. Re2 Rd1+ 37. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 38. Bf1 b3 39. Bc1 h5) *

[/pgn]

Magnus Carlsen, the strongest chess player in the world in all categories, vs Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Wojtaszek has only one win in the database against Carlsen despite having a handful of matches played against each other.

In this game, we see that Carlsen early on found the right idea but missed the move order when trying to get a fork between the knight and rook. This move was important because it really points out the deficiency in Wojtaszek’s position as the black squared bishop gets locked away and is not able to get out. What happens here is that because all of Wojtaszek’s pieces are stuck in the corner away from the king Carlsen is able to sack to open up the pawn structure which is why the move h4 by Wojtaseck was an inaccuracy. At this point, white’s position was completely busted with a second sack of the knight to undermine the position. Carlsen missed this move and cashed in on the investment early allowing Wojtaszek to reactivate the queen that was stuck in the corner. After the knight sack at this point, it is too late because white’s pieces can already make it back to protect the king from black’s attack.

Another interesting point was that Carlsen had a really interesting position against Wojtaszek and was borderline winning. The problem was that it was not as straightforward as the engine leads us to believe. At a glance, the position looks borderline busted for black but after trading down to queen and four pawns vs 2 bishops and a rook, black actually has a decent advantage which would lead to a slow grinding position which Carlsen may have been able to play for a win if the time was not all the way drained to 2 minutes on the clock.

Carlsen plays a king’s pawn position with Wojtaszek playing a Sicilian. Carlsen rather early on plays a move not normally played in this confrontational line. Both players quickly move out of the known territory and take time to navigate the opening. The game proceeds rather peacefully with a nearly drawn board configuration according to the computer. Wojtaszek is fighting for the center while Carlsen fights on the kingside since realistically there is no piece on Wojtaszek’s side that can attack the open king.
The first mistake occurs when Wojtaszek messes up positionally. In playing a passive retreating move that seems to gain a tempo on the queen Carlsen can simply move the queen out of the way to back up the pawns being pushed on the kingside as well as guard the previously open king. While it seems like Carlsen is blundering a pawn in this position it becomes quite clear that this is a bait and if in fact the pawn is taken black’s position is busted and the game is over which is what happens in the game. This leads to a sequence of events where Carlsen has the opportunity to essentially end the game but misses the game-ender Rxh7. Probably Carlsen did not see a follow-through a few moves down the line but by moving the bishop rather than taking the position drops back to barely having the advantage.
Following this Carlsen who at this point was extremely low on time plays a slow move cashing in on the open rook rather than playing a more aggressive move with the queen makes a positional mistake which leads to the game ending in a draw by repetition.

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.23”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Wojtaszek, Radoslaw”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2847”]
[BlackElo “2691”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[ECO “B51”]
[Opening “Sicilian Defense: Moscow Variation”]
[Annotator “https://lichess.org/@/foreignspidey”]

1. e4 c5 { In game 1 the players had a draw which means that the winner of this game will move on in the world cup. With this being the case we see the Sicilian defense played against the move e4 which is extremely confrontational. } 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { 2nd most common move aimed at trading the light squared bishops. } 3… Nd7 { Generally speaking the moves in this position are focused on moving the king to safety or breaking open the center. } (3… Bd7 4. Bxd7+) 4. d4 cxd4 { Even at this point Carlsen had reached this position with Maxime Vachier- Lagrave in 2019 and Anand in 2013. } 5. Nxd4 { Carlsen decides to leave the known games and play an almost novelty with no games in the database by any grandmasters at this point as the other games focused on Qxd4. } 5… Nf6 6. O-O a6 7. Ba4 e6 8. c4 Be7 (8… Nxe4 { Black does not take this pawn because this will just lead to a draw by repetition. } 9. Re1 Nc5 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Qh5+ g6 13. Rxe6+ Be7 14. Rxg6 hxg6 15. Qxg6+ Kf8 16. Bh6+ { And the game is a draw by repetition. }) 9. Nc3 { The game starts to transpose into a position that is commonly reached in the Moscow Variation of the Sicilian. Because of this we see games in the database again with O-O for black. } 9… O-O 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. f4 Nb6 12. Bb3 { While this bishop looks extremely bad, it is getting preparation for an attack down the diagonal through the center of the board. White anticipates that black will push the E pawn to e5. } 12… e5 { The problem with this move is that white does not have to take the pawn. By pushing to e5 white now has dominant control with the knight. So even though the view for the bishop is open white forces a trade because the knight is just much too stron on f5. } 13. Nf5 Bxf5 14. exf5 { Black needs to play a move that is creating counter play on the white king since most of the pieces are out and about } 14… Rfe8 { By playing Rfe8 instead of exf4 white can start creating an attack on the kingside. This attack is only possible because there is no way for black to attack white. } 15. g4 exf4 16. Bxf4 Bf8 { A whole variety of moves aid black in creating a dynmic fight for the center and taking advantage of white’s open king. The issue is this retreating move causes no real threats and further activates white’s attack. } (16… Qc6) (16… h6) (16… Nfd7) 17. Qg2 { Now the white queen supports the two pawns from behind making pushing all the easier. On top of this any diagonal attack can be thwarted by playing Kh1 moving out of the way. } 17… Nxc4 { This is a big positional mistake by black. There are two big problems that this move causes, first is the fact that by taking a pawn white’s bishop is now super active and black has the burden of defending, second, once white plays g5 it becomes extremely hard to defend. } 18. g5 { In this position white is almost completely winning as black’s position is busted. The game is still pretty complex but in pushing the pawns breaking apart the king’s protection white is winning. } 18… Nh5 19. Nd5 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 b5 21. g6 Rab8 22. Rad1 Nxf4 { Better plan of attack was to play gxf7 first baiting out the king. } 23. Rxf4 (23. gxf7+ Kxf7 24. Nxf4 Qe5 25. Rd3 Be7 26. Rd5 Qe3 27. Rdd1 Bf6 28. Qd5+) 23… Re5 24. Rh4 Rxf5 { This was a huge blunder and now white is completely winning. The idea is the move Rxh7 which soon after leads to a mate. } 25. Bc2 (25. Rxh7 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 Qe3 27. gxf7+ Kxf7 28. Rf5+ Ke6 29. Qg4 Qe1+ (29… Kd7 30. Rxf8+ Kc6 { This is the only sequence to avoid mate and in doing so black gives away both rooks. }) 30. Rf1+) 25… Qf2 { White misses this winning idea and blunders back down to a much smaller advantage which might not mean much in such a complicated game. } 26. gxf7+ Kxf7 { In order to keep the advantage white had to keep playing actively taking advantage of black’s poor kind positioning. } 27. Bxf5 (27. Qe4 Qf3+ 28. Qxf3 Rxf3 29. Kg2 { [%csl Gb8] } 29… Rc8 30. Re1 Ne5 31. Be4 { At this point black’s rook would have been trapped. Allowing white to go up the exchange. }) 27… Qxh4 28. Rf1 Kg8 { At this point white had less than 2 minutes on the clock and instead of pushing on just accepted a draw by means of repetition. } 29. Rf4 Qe1+ 30. Rf1 Qe5 31. Qh3 Qxd5+ 32. Rf3 Qd1+ 33. Rf1 Qd5+ 34. Rf3 Qd1+ *

[/pgn]

Game 1:

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.24”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Wojtaszek, Radoslaw”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteElo “2729”]
[BlackElo “2881”]
[TimeControl “1500+10”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 a5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Qc2 c5 8. cxd5
cxd4 9. Nxd4 Qb6 10. e3 exd5 11. O-O Nc6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Rc1 Qb8 14. Bxb4 axb4
15. Nd2 Bd7 16. Nb3 h5 17. Nc5 Bc8 18. h4 Re8 19. a4 bxa3 20. bxa3 Re7 21. a4
Rea7 22. Qc3 Ra5 23. Nd3 Rxa4 24. Rxa4 Rxa4 25. Qxc6 Bd7 26. Qc5 Qb5 27. Qxb5
Bxb5 28. Nf4 Bc4 29. Rd1 Ra5 30. Bf3 g6 31. Kg2 Kg7 32. Rd4 Rb5 33. Rd1 Rb2 34.
Rd4 Rb5 35. Rd1 Rb2 36. Rd4 Rb5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Game 2:

[pgn]

[Event “FIDE World Cup 2021”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2021.07.24”]
[Round “null”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Wojtaszek, Radoslaw”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “2881”]
[BlackElo “2729”]
[TimeControl “1500+10”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Ne2 d5 7. cxd5 cxd4 8. exd4
Nxd5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Nf4 Bd6 12. Be3 Bxf4 13. Bxf4 Qf6 14. Be3 Nb4
15. Bb1 Bf5 16. Qb3 Bxb1 17. Raxb1 Qd6 18. a3 Na6 19. Rbc1 Qd7 20. Bf4 Rac8 21.
Qg3 f6 22. h4 Rxc1 23. Rxc1 Rc8 24. Rxc8+ Qxc8 25. b4 b5 26. h5 Qd7 27. Qf3 h6
28. Qc3 Qf5 29. g3 Qd7 30. Qc2 Kf8 31. Qh7 Nc7 32. Bxh6 Qg4 33. Be3 Ne6 34. Qh8+
Kf7 35. Qc8 Qe4 36. Qd7+ Kg8 37. Qxa7 Ng5 38. Bxg5 Qe1+ 39. Kg2 Qe4+ 40. Kh2
fxg5 41. Qb8+ Kf7 42. Qc7+ Kf6 43. Qd6+ Kf7 44. Qg6+ Qxg6 45. hxg6+ Kxg6 46. g4
Kf6 47. Kg3 Ke6 48. Kf3 1-0

[/pgn]

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