|

|

|

Magnus Carlsen`s Blog

Kings Tournament Bazna 2010 - Final Round

I won the last round to take sole first place in the Kings Tournament! My opponent was Wang Yue, China. He is normally a very solid player, especially with the white pieces, but he has not been in his best form in Bazna. Based on the time spent in the opening he seemed surprised with my opening choice, the Grunfeld Defence. After a quiet opening I think he made a mistake by recapturing the knight on e2 instead of trading off my strong black-squared bishop. It did force the exchange of queens, but the resulting position is somewhat unpleasant for white. After I had doubled my rooks in the d-file he made a few further inaccuracies and ended up in a lost rook ending. By the time we finished white had lost all three games in the last round. Needless to say I´m very satisfied reaching a +5 score and gaining a chunk of rating points. Radjabov took 2nd place (on tie-break) at +1 ahead of Gelfand and qualified for the Grand Slam Final. I´d like to thank the organiser for showing an unrivalled level of hospitality and the main sponsor Romgaz for supporting this great event. My next chess event is the Rapid tournament in Kristiansund in Norway at the end of August. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-26 12:31:18

kings Tournament Round 9, June 24th 2010

I was white against Nisipeanu today and was of course ambitious. In a majority of my games in this tournament the opponent has started thinking while I´m still in my preparation, but not so today. Against 1.e4 he replied 1.. e5 and when I played the Ruy Lopez he went for the Schliemann variation and the sharp 5… d5 line. I knew that I could capture his pawn on a7 with my knight but playing such computer lines unprepared is a little bit dangerous. I placed the knight on e5 instead and we reached an interesting middle game position. Both of us spent about an hour calculating the effect of liquidation of light pieces and a rook and most lines seemed to favour white. However, he did find the right defence and the equilibrium was upheld. I could have entered a pawn ending with his passed pawn on e3 (on e4 it is won for white), but neither of us was sure how to evaluate the position. It is probably a draw with best play from both sides. Having spent nearly all my time before move 30, I had to go for a repetition in the queen ending. Draw. The other games ended draw as well and the tournament situation is the same. I´ve got a one point lead versus Gelfand before the last game against Wang Yue Friday at 1:30 pm local time. Hopefully we´ll finish before Brazil plays Portugal in the World Cup:-) Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-24 23:38:01

Kings Tournament Round 8

After four consecutive wins, the game Tuesday represented a possible stumbling block as I played the only opponent with a significant chance of overtaking my lead in the tournament, Boris Gelfand. As black I decided to play a fairly solid opening, the Queen´s Gambit Declined. The position was fairly balanced out of the opening. Maybe I played a little reckless with Ndf6. White got a serious pressure but it seems that all lines hold for black. I had to find some precise moves to keep the balance in face of the back rank threats. After trading off several pieces, he allowed a little trick with a queen check and knight to d2 that gave me an initiative in the ensuing queen and knight endgame. I had an extra pawn on the kingside and he had a passed pawn on a2. When he offered a draw at move 33 I spent most of the remaining time searching for a winning plan. I found none and accepted his offer. Radjabov – Ponomariov followed a theoretical line and eventually drew. Home favourite and lowest seeded participant Nisipeanu outmanoeuvred Wang Yue in an interesting rook and bishop endgame to score his 2nd victory in the tournament. Tonight we played football again over in Medias, one out of several nice features I appreciate about the Kings Tournament. 2 or 3 daily matches of World Cup football on TV provide excellent relaxation between chess games. I´m especially impressed by the performance of the South American teams thus far. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-23 23:42:34

Kings Tournament Round 7

This morning it was decided to move the tournament from Medias to our hotel in Bazna and I think this was popular with all the players. My opponent today, Teimur Radjabov was the no 1 junior player in the world for several years just after I became a GM. We have already met numerous times in classical chess as well as rapid and blitz. In classical chess I have a good score against him, but our games are nearly always hard fought. He surprised me by playing the Accelerated Sicilian Dragon with Qa5 and we soon left theory. Early in the middle game I recaptured with my bishop on d5 to create complications. I think both contestants played accurately in the middle game and after the exchange of queens the position is fairly equal. He tried to simplify by trading of the minor pieces. However, the ensuing double rook ending was somewhat better for me so I decided to play for a win. I think he made two inaccuracies in the endgame. Firstly he allowed me to double on the 7th rank. Later he moved his a-pawn instead of implementing the plan Rg6 aiming to attack my f-pawn with both rooks when and if I took his e-pawn. The rook + 2 pawns against rook ending was simply winning despite my passive rook, the activation of which gradually decided the outcome. After a bit rusty start of the tournament it has certainly gone my way for a while. Gelfand won with black in the Petroff against Nisipeanu, while Wang Yue escaped with a draw from a very difficult position against Ponomariov. Tuesday, in round 8, my opponent is Boris Gelfand. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-22 00:17:50

Kings Tournament Round 6

Ponomariov lost with white against the King Indian earlier in this tournament and as black against him today I chose the same opening. Something went wrong early on and I was very dissatisfied with my position from the opening. I decided to play a bit risky and placed my knight on the rim aiming for a variation where I could sacrifice a rook for his knight. He allowed the variation and had to choose between a sharp line where I would sacrifice further material to attack his king or to give back the exchange. He chose the latter as he had missed my subtle subsequent queen move attacking both his pawns on a4 and on e4. I got back the lost pawn, and afterwards maybe he had problems adjusting to the new reality of having to defend. My position improved gradually, and just before the time control I forced the exchange of queens to enter an easily won endgame. The other two games ended draw, and I´m now at with 4.5 / 6 points with my opponents in the next two rounds, Radjabov and Gelfand one point behind. The organiser deserves praise in many respects but this weekend something beyond their control (the extreme weather) has been a main feature. Yesterday a rainstorm starting on the way to the playing venue flooded the road, and hails nearly the size of pigeon eggs kept us in the cars outside the playing hall for a while and caused the delayed start of the round. Today the storm arrived later and was less fierce, but during the endgame water leaked from the roof. The table had to be moved to a dry place so that we could finish the game. Anyway, I´m quite happy about the tournament development this weekend:-) Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-21 00:04:51

Kings Tournament Round 5

The long football session yesterday was popular with all the participants and is likely to be repeated on the next free day. Sometimes chess makes me really happy. Winning individual games and tournaments is great but playing a game where your pieces work together really harmoniously is something very special. My opponent in round 5, L.-D. Nisipeanu, plays 1.e4 consistently. As in our last encounter two years ago, I played the Sicilian Dragon today as well. In the somewhat unusual line with 10... Rb8 I sacrificed a pawn a few moves later and he started spending much time in the continuation. It is hard to pinpoint what he did wrong, but some minor inaccuracies quickly allowed me to improve my position. After he returned the pawn (on g5) it is already difficult for white. His position slowly got worse and with 5 minutes left for 10 moves, he blundered with Bb6. It allows intrusion on the 1st rank, and he resigned before I made my next move in face of imminent mate or huge loss of material. Wang Yue and Radjabov drew while B.Gelfand won against Ponomariov after getting a decisive advantage out of the opening. Halfway in the tournament I´ve got 3,5 points ahead of Gelfand and Radjabov at 3. Sunday I´ll play the black pieces against Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukraine in round 6. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-19 23:57:43

Kings Tournament Round 3 and 4

Not that much to say about my game against Boris Gelfand in round 3. After a quiet opening I chose an aggressive plan moving my queen to his kingside. He made some accurate defensive moves and effectively neutralised the attack. I was forced to enter a somewhat worse ending. At this point I probably defended well and after a small accuracy by him, we agreed to a draw with just 3 pawns and a piece left each. In round 4 Thursday I played Wang Yue from China, the second highest rated player in the tournament. As white I played the Kings Gambit for the first time in my career and as expected Wang was duly surprised. He decided he did not want to keep the pawn I had sacrificed, and I got a small advantage from the opening. In the middle game I got a passer (free pawn) in the d-file but the position was still in balance. He put his remaining rook in e-file and my rook lift made it somewhat tricky for him. He allowed me to push the pawn to d7 and just before the time control he sacrificed the exchange for my d-pawn hoping to draw the ensuing endgame. It looked quite interesting and complicated, but he erred after just a few moves. By pushing his g-pawn he allowed my countermove g4 creating a passed pawn in the h-file, and it quickly secured my first victory in this tournament. All three games were won by white in this round. Ponomariov got a nearly decisive advantage against Nisipeanu out of the opening and steered the game to victory. Radjabov won a nice attacking game against Gelfand and we are joint leaders with 2.5 points going into the first free day. Friday night there is a football match between the tournament participants and the chess journalists present in nearby Medias, and on Saturday I´ll play home favourite Nisipeanu in round 5. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-18 16:48:49

Kings Tournament Round 2

My opponent in round 2, Teimur Radjabov from Azerbaijan recently qualified for the 2011 Candidate Matches by capturing the overall 2nd place in the 2008-2010 Grand Prix. He is 23 years old and currently ranked as no 13 in the world, although just two rating points short of a place in the top 10. As white, he started with a somewhat offbeat Sicilian variation. This was a surprise to me as it is quite comfortable for black. Maybe the reason was that he suffered (but managed a draw) on the black side of the same line against Gashimov in the Grand Prix tournament in Astrakhan last month). I got a very comfortable position in the middle game and was quite optimistic. Somewhere along the line I must have played inaccurately because after complications he managed to escape into a slightly worse bishop against knight endgame. I continued to put pressure on him for more than two hours and although unpleasant for white he managed to find a way to trade of enough material to draw in the end. I´m not fully satisfied with two draws so far but the fact that I was quite close to winning as black today makes me optimistic with regard to the rest of the tournament. Wednesday I´m white facing Boris Gelfand from Israel. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-16 10:50:37

Kings Tournament Round 1

The road from Bazna to Medias is a bit bumpy but the organisation of the transportation to the tournament was quite impressive. Each player has a car with driver and we moved in a column headed by a police car to arrive in Medias well in time and after a brief introduction by the organiser, round 1 started on schedule. Having the white pieces against Ruslan Ponomariov from Ukraine, I got what I considered a promising position out of the opening. There were potential threats against his kingside, but when he countered with f5 I retreated my bishop along the wrong diagonal to b1. Moving the bishop to f3 would have been better to stop the advance of his h-pawn and to prepare the advance of my g-pawn. My opponent played accurately in the critical phases and when he offered a draw after move 31 I was slightly worse and saw no better alternative than to accept his offer. Both the other games ended decisively. Home favourite Nisipeanu defeated Radjabov and Gelfand won against Wang Yue on an exciting first day for the spectators. Tuesday I´m facing Radjabov in round 2. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Rumania

2010-06-15 10:25:53

Kings Tournament, Bazna, Rumania 2010

We arrived in Bazna (in the middle of Romania) on Saturday after a pleasant travel via Munich. The organiser has been very helpfu even finding a sportsbar on the way from the airport to Bazna so that I could watch Argentina - Nigeria:-) We start to play tomorrow (Monday) and needless to say it´ll be great to get into action again. The other players are Boris Gelfand, Wang Yue, Teimour Radjabov, Ruslan Ponomariov and the best Rumanian player Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. The 10 round tournament is a part of the Grand Slam circuit and take place from the 14th to the 25th of June. My opponent for tomorrow is Ponomariov. The games starts at 3:30 pm local time and the playing venue is in Medias 20 minutes drive from here. Magnus Carlsen, Bazna, Sunday June 13th

2010-06-13 21:59:56