Gelfand-Carlsen: the inevitability of playing Magnus

It is rest day after three rounds of the Candidates; Magnus has started to get going, after two draws; so he is now just behind the leaders. Yesterday’s game was typical Carlsen. I have not seen any comment on it yet, since Levon Aronian’s and Peter Svidler’s wins are more entertainig, but I was struck by the flow of Magnus’ play and also how, somehow, exchanges result in him having the right combination of pieces.

The scene is starting to be set. Once the white knight is exchanged for the black bishop, of the remaining minor pieces, which is better? Can’t be definitive, but if the rooks come off as well, then Q+N is normally better than Q+B.

Here, the pin on the f1-a6 diagonal is a bit awkward, and black is getting ready to challenge control over the only open file, the c file. The white bishop’s control over d8 doesn’t count for much; and the f1-a6 pin means that typical blitz chess, of f2-f4-f5-mate, won’t work.

Here, a thought Magnus was now playing for two results: a win or a draw; and Boris, for a draw or a loss. Note that it is inevitable that white will be pushed back, and that the main question is whether the black pieces can shepherd the queenside pawns forward: referring back to the very first diagram, note Magnus’ 2-1 advantage on that side.  On the king side, black can block on the white squares, though Boris played superbly in giving himself chances.

Game over, Magnus style. However, I should add that when I was watching it live on Playchess, trying hard to ignore all the inane chattering (I think in future I will close the comments box: there is so much nonsense talked, and so much engine analysis), I found it hard to calculate this to the end. When Magnus played Nc6, I was thinking that my move would be Ne6: which Houdini tells me is only equal. The fact that Magnus’ games flow so inevitably hides his sheer calculating ability.

Maybe this game wasn’t “brilliant”, but I think it was “awesome”.