[Event “Corus Group C”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2004.01.24”]
[Round “12”]
[White “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Black “Sipke Ernst”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2474”]
[ECO “B19”]
[EventDate “2004.01.10”]
[WhiteElo “2484”]
1.e4 { Magnus opens with a center pawn. }
1…c6 { Ernst Responds with the Caro-Kann Defence. In the Caro-Kann it is black’s intention to confront white’s center with d5. }
2.d4 { When your oponent does not match your center pawn, get two. }
2…d5 { As expected, black stakes his claim in the center. }
3.Nc3 { The only knight worth developing for white as Nf3 would allow black to play dxe4 with tempo. }
3…dxe4 { Ernst captures Carlsen’s king’s pawn and is thus inviting Nxe4 which is all very much part of Caro-Kann strategy. }
4.Nxe4 { Magnus accepts. }
4…Bf5 { For a moment, black gains the initiative. }
5.Ng3 { And then white takes it right back. } 5
…Bg6 { And black continues into the main lines of the Caro-Kann. }
6.h4 { Threatening to trap black’s bishop. }
6…h6 { But black easily creates an escape square. }
7.Nf3 { Oftentimes white plays h5 here. }
7…Nd7 { In the classical Caro-Kann, black’s knights are placed on d7 and f6. }
8.h5 { And now white plays the afformentioned h5 because he can. }
8…Bh7 { And Ernst’s bishop goes into its bunker. }
9.Bd3 { White is willing to trade this bishop for a little development. }
9…Bxd3 { And black is just happy to get rid of his “bad bishop.” }
10.Qxd3 { Carlsen now has three pieces developed and a pawn in the center. }
10…e6 { Ernst takes a moment to complete the Caro-Kann pawn structure. }
11.Bf4 { White now has a four-on-one advantage in development but it’s against the ultra-solid Caro-Kann. }
11…Ngf6 { Black develops the other knight to where it influences two center squares. }
12.O-O-O { With the h-pawn already advanced, castling queenside makes the most sense. }
12…Be7 { In the Caro-Kann, black does not play ambitiously with their dark bishop. }
13.Ne4 { Oftentimes, white plays Kb1 here first to tighten up their castled king. }
13…Qa5 { The main line here is: }
(13…Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qe2 {and then the black queen can either got to d5 or a5.} )
14.Kb1 { With a2 now threatened, Carlsen now takes a moment to play Kb1. }
14…O-O { Now we have a position which has occured in a hundred or so master-level games. }
15.Nxf6+ { Magnus trades one knight so that he can safely move his other knight to e5. }
15…Nxf6 { Black reloads the knight on f6 but this allows white to play Ne5. }
16.Ne5 { Carlsen’s knight can now safely advance to the e5 outpost. }
16…Rad8 { Ernst places his rook into the semi-open file with Carlsen’s queen. }
17.Qe2 { Carlsen drops his queen back to e2 in response to black’s last move. }
17…c5 { Playing c6 to c5 is a common theme in the Caro-Kann in which black is seeking to eliminate white’s remaining claim to the center. }
18.Ng6 $1 { Carlsen makes an ingenius knight offering to create a strong attack. }
18…fxg6 $2 { Capturing the knight here is an easy mistake to make. However, it is still a mistake. Ernst needed to decline the knight offering by instead playing: }
( 18…Rfe8 19.Nxe7+ Rxe7 20.dxc5 Red7 21.Rxd7 Nxd7 { I prefer capturing with the knight here to target the c5 pawn and it keeps white’s queen off e5. But Rxd7 was also playable. Now I wonder if Magnus would have played the defensive Be3 or the offensive pawn to g4. Based on what we have so far, I will continue with pawn to g4. } 22.g4 Nxc5 23.g5 { And things seem rather precarious for black. However, black has some reasonable defensive resources if he doesn’t panic. Starting with: } 23…Qb4 24.Qe5 Qe4 { Exchanging queens to remove the threat of mate. } 25.Qxe4 Nxe4 26.gxh6 gxh6 27.Bxh6 Nxf2 28.Rg1+ Kh8 { And Sipke Ernst would have survived Magnus’ attack but white still has a small edge. } )
19.Qxe6+ { The obvious way to continue after the knight sacrifice. }
19…Kh8 { Definitely not: }
( 19…Rf7 $4 { because of: } 20.hxg6 )
20.hxg6 { Black’s king is cornered and Magnus’ rook on h1 suddenly becomes a credible threat. }
20…Ng8 { Ernst defends h6 a second time with the knight while simultaneously attacking Magnus’ bishop. }
21.Bxh6 { Carlsen starts his final assault with a bold sacrifice. }
21…gxh6 { and certainly not: }
( 21…Nxh6 $4 22.Rxh6+ $1 gxh6 23.Qxe7 { Leaves Ernst with no meaningful way to stop the checkmate on h7. } )
22.Rxh6+ $1 { The onslaught continues. }
22…Nxh6 { Ernst’s only other choice was: }
( 22…Kg7 $4 23.Rh7# )
23.Qxe7 { Magnus captures the bishop but more importantly is threatening mate on h7 again. }
23…Nf7 { The only way for black to avoid the checkmate is to give back some material. }
24.gxf7 { Ernst survives for now and is rook up. But since the safety of his king is a deciding factor. Black now has the choice to pick his poison. }
24…Kg7 { Had he chose: }
( 24…Qa6 25.Qg5 Rxf7 26.Rh1+ Rh7 27.Qxd8+ Kg7 28.Qe7+ Kg8 29.Qxh7+ Kf8 30.Qf5+ Kg8 31.Qg5+ Kf8 32.Rh8+ Kf7 33.Rh7+ Ke6 34.Qe5# )
( 24…Qb6 25.Qe5+ Kh7 26.Rh1+ Qh6 27.Qf5+ Kg7 28.Rxh6 Kxh6 29.Qf6+ Kh7 30.c3 cxd4 31.g4 Rd7 32.Qf5+ Kg7 33.Qxd7 dxc3 34.Qxb7 Rxf7 35.Qxf7+ Kxf7 36.bxc3 { Is easily winning for white } )
25.Rd3 { Magnus lifts the rook to the third rank so that it can slide over and enage black’s king in the g-file. }
25…Rd6 { Under extreme pressure, Ernst misses his best defence which is in fact using the queen to black the coming check instead of the rook. For instance: }
( 25…Qa6 26.Rg3+ Qg6 27.Rxg6+ Kxg6 28.g4 Rxd4 29.c3 Rd1+ 30.Kc2 Rdd8 31.f4 Kg7 32.g5 Kg6 33.Qf6+ Kh5 34.g6 Kg4 35.g7 { which is losing for black anyways. } )
26.Rg3+ { Magnus’s rook greets the black king with a check. }
26…Rg6 { Black defense has just one problem. }
27.Qe5+ { Which, of course, Magnus exploits. }
27…Kxf7 { The alternatives would have been: }
( 27…Kh7 28.Qh5+ Rh6 29.Qf5+ Kh8 30.Qe5+ Rf6 31.Qxf6+ Kh7 32.Qg7# ) ( 27…Kh6 28.Rh3# )
28.Qf5+ Rf6 { Ernst could have tried: }
( 28…Ke8 29.Re3+ Kd8 30.Qxf8+ Kc7 31.Qf7+ Kc8 32.Qf5+ Kc7 33.Re7+ Kb6 34.Qxg6+ Kb5 35.a4+ Qxa4 36.Rxb7+ Ka5 37.Rxa7+ Kb4 38.Rxa4+ Kxa4 39.Qb6 cxd4 40.Ka2 d3 41.b3# )
( 28…Ke7 29.Re3+ Kd6 30.Qxf8+ Kc7 { and then we’ve reached the same position as the afformentioned variation. } )
29.Qd7# { Magnus concludes his opus with a very artfully played Epaulette mate. } 1-0