Carlsenphobia

I wonder if there will now be, or even if there already has been, a trend of players playing particularly poorly against Magnus, through sheer fear of him?

I might be wrong, and haven't seen any of the analysis yet, but his game against former women's world champion, Hou Yifan, might be a case in point.

I dipped in and out of the game whilst it was being played, first seeing the position shown below, and wondering about 12e6, which I suspect is weak, and not a move she would normally have played.

Maybe the analysts or engines will prove me wrong, but I doubt that Magnus gave serious consideration to taking the pawn on move 12. Yifan would I assume have played 13 Ng5 fg 14 Qh5+ with a bit of a mess. Far simpler, and more in Carlsen's style, is the move he played, rounding up the pawn when it was safe to do so. Maybe I am underestimating white's compensation, or maybe she was uncomfortable with Nbd2 or Re1, but I suspect she would have played some such player without Carlsenphobia.

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