How Magnus Carlsen DESTROYS "Normal" Chess Masters

Metatube

TICKETS TO GOTHAM EUROPE Tour 2025: https://bit.ly/gothameuro2025 TRY 50 COURSES FOR FREE: https://www.chessly.com   ➡️ Get my best-selling chess book: https://geni.us/gothamchess  ➡️ My book in the UK and Europe: https://bit.ly/3qFqSf7 ➡️ Mein Buch auf Deutsch: https://bit.ly/45fKt3R ➡️ Mi libro en Español: https://bit.ly/3Y5xaRx ➡️ Mon livre en français: https://bit.ly/3W9rQvQ ➡️ Il mio libro in italiano: https://amzn.to/3yY1Qfc ➡️ Το βιβλίο μου στα ελληνικά: https://bit.ly/3SitmdS ➡️ My book in ALL OTHER LANGUAGES: https://bit.ly/3YiagZd  ➡️ Start Playing Chess FOR FREE: http://bit.ly/3Xa3EsB  ➡️ Enjoy my videos? Donate Here : https://www.paypal.me/gothamchess  Email me your games: gothamletters@gmail.com Sponsors, Business, Media: gotham@night.co - [DO NOT SEND GAMES HERE]  ⭐️ Follow Me If You Are Amazing: ➡️ FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/gothamchessofficial ➡️ SNAP: https://www.snapchat.com/add/levy.rozman  ➡️ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/gothamchess/ ➡️ TWITCH:  https://www.twitch.tv/gothamchess ➡️ TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@levyrozman ➡️ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/gothamchess ➡️ GOTHAM DISCORD:   https://discord.gg/f2ETqcWKdt

Transcript

00:00Ladies and gentlemen, in every single sport, we have greats.

00:07On this channel, I cover chess, so I can only really talk about the greats of chess.

00:11And in chess, so far, we've got Magnus Carlsen, 18-time champion of the world, ranked world

00:17number one for a decade and a half.

00:20But the interesting thing about chess is the highest achievable title in the game is Grandmaster.

00:27That's the title that Magnus Carlsen has.

00:30So what is the difference between an entry-level Grandmaster, somebody who has total and absolute

00:37mastery of the game of chess, better than the billions of hobby chess players around

00:42the world, and Magnus Carlsen?

00:46What is the difference?

00:47That's what we're going to get into in today's video.

00:49I'm going to show you three games that Magnus played, actually here in early 2025, in the

00:54Norway Team League.

00:56He played against two people who were just under that Grandmaster level, and then he

01:00played against, I believe, his former coach.

01:04So a pretty strong Grandmaster.

01:07Let's get into it.

01:08By the way, if you're a little bit confused where I am, if this is the first video you

01:11watch of mine, you might be like, wow, this guy's audio quality is terrible.

01:14There's an echo.

01:15He's ugly.

01:16What's this weird white wall?

01:17If you're watching my channel for a long time, you probably have all those same questions.

01:20I'm traveling right now.

01:24This was the best I could do for today.

01:26And if you watch daily, you can kind of keep track of my journey, where I'm recording from.

01:31We've got a joke on this channel that I get kidnapped pretty often.

01:34So there you go.

01:37On that note, let's jump into some of this analysis.

01:42Let's jump into the difference between Magnus Carlsen and a Grandmaster.

01:45Now, like I said, two people just underneath that Grandmaster level.

01:51His first opponent, Isik Alparslan, Turkish player.

01:55Then he played a Norwegian player, Kristian Holm.

01:58And then he played Simon Agdestan, and that's actually Magnus' former coach.

02:05So let's kick things off with the game against the young Turkish player.

02:09Magnus opened with the English opening.

02:11Here nowadays, top level chess in 2025, it's actually very difficult to get an opening

02:16advantage.

02:18Players have a lot of memory.

02:21They have a lot of resources, so they actually are very, very good with their opening play.

02:26And his opponent mimics him.

02:27He's like, well, Magnus, if you want to play the English, I will as well.

02:30In fact, I will copy all of your moves.

02:35In fact, Magnus, I will literally copy the entire position.

02:38Now here, black did not run out of time.

02:40That was a clock malfunction of some sort.

02:45Black copies white the entire distance here.

02:48What's funny is, in this game, black plays an opening which has been proven to be a massive

02:56solution to white's setup.

03:00You don't have to know this if you're watching this, but at the highest level, the meta strategy

03:03of black to mimic white in the Queen's Pawn game, which is what we see here, is what you

03:08are supposed to do.

03:09So this clearly shows a player who is not yet at Magnus' level, but has the opening

03:13knowledge of a Magnus Carlsen.

03:16So how does Magnus Carlsen deal with that?

03:19Well, let's see.

03:20First, he makes this trade, and he develops the light-scored bishop.

03:22The idea is to put a little bit of pressure on the knight and black's king.

03:26You can take this knight.

03:27You can damage the pawn structure.

03:28In the future, you can play moves like knight e5, queen a4, etc.

03:32Black defends against that.

03:33Magnus castles, and black plays a6, basically saying, look, now you've got to decide what

03:38to do with this bishop.

03:40Magnus takes.

03:41He gives away the light-scored bishop.

03:43Even though black is not obligated to take with the pawn, that bishop is a little bit

03:47passive, and the major question is going to be, what is going to happen with this pawn?

03:51Is white going to take it?

03:53Is black going to take white's pawn?

03:54Is black going to advance this pawn?

03:56What does Magnus choose for?

03:57He ends up taking on c5, and we get to this position.

04:01So now, there's a couple of ideas in a position like this.

04:05Black has what's called an IQP, isolated queen's pawn.

04:09White wants to blockade it, probably with b3, b2, or a3, b4, b2.

04:14Put this knight back around like this, and that could either jump forward, something

04:18along these lines.

04:19Let's check it out.

04:21There's Magnus playing b3.

04:22What does black want?

04:23Well, obviously, black probably wants to do something a bit better with this bishop.

04:27The bishop is kind of ugly, but you can't really go d4.

04:31So black is going to c, right?

04:32Black castles, Magnus plays bishop b2, and now immediately puts his knight on d4.

04:36Now a very, very, very bad trade here for black would be to take the knight, okay?

04:42I hope I don't have to explain this to you, because if there's this, of course, white

04:45is going to team up with the dark-scored bishop and have a very, very powerful long-term attacking

04:50plan.

04:51Now, if actually white had to take with the pawn, it wouldn't be the worst trade in the

04:54world, but white can take with the queen.

04:56So black drops back the bishop, Magnus brings his rook, and black drops this bishop back

05:00as well to get out of the way of the rook, and the bishops are very powerful.

05:04Now, how does Magnus take a position like this against a, you know, grandmaster-level

05:08player?

05:09Not quite there yet on a technicality, but how does he do it?

05:14First we drop this knight back to the e2 square.

05:16We're obviously trying to rotate it around somewhere it can put a little bit more pressure

05:20on the black position.

05:22Now let's trade the rooks.

05:23This kind of pushes back black, pushes black backwards, back blackwards, pushes black backwards,

05:32and now this bishop is a bit passive, the queen is still on the home square.

05:35So what do we do here?

05:36We actually leave the center of the board, and we set up a possibility to take this knight

05:40and take this pawn.

05:41That is how you put some pressure on the isolated pawn.

05:44Black now moves the light-squared bishop out very aggressively, calling the bluff.

05:49Magnus opts not to go for it, plays a very interesting idea, queen a1.

05:55The computer here liked the concept of taking here and taking on d5, but then black would

05:59have centralized his bishops, he would have had the bishops staring down at white's position,

06:03and again, that's what the engine would have done if the engine was playing in Magnus'

06:06shoes.

06:07Magnus opts to play the human approach, which is queen to a1.

06:10By the way, if you're confused, this is a battery, and the idea is to put massive pressure

06:14on that knight and the diagonal, making it difficult for black to make a move.

06:19This forces a response out of black.

06:22Now we have rook d1, and it's very clear how every piece in the white position is soon

06:27going to have a role in the game.

06:29The knight is always active, the knights are jumping into the middle of the board, the

06:32rook is pressuring this, queen and bishop are targeting on this diagonal.

06:37But so far, black has not done anything horribly wrong.

06:39I mean, he's actually played a very, very nice game.

06:42Magnus is going to have to beat this player.

06:44He's not just, you know, the person with the black pieces is certainly not just going to

06:47fall over and die.

06:48And not only that, he begins attacking Magnus, h5, a flank pawn attack.

06:52This is like very modern type of chess, using these flank pawns as not just attacking mechanisms,

06:58but long-term problems for the position.

07:00This is very computer-like, Magnus anticipating this and actually trades.

07:04And now the question is, will black get rid of his isolated pawn or activate his knight?

07:09He chooses to do this.

07:10Now he doesn't have a weakness.

07:12He doesn't have a weakness, Magnus still asking questions, right?

07:16The thing about Magnus is, he's going to keep pieces on the board for as long as possible.

07:20This is now 28 moves into the game.

07:23And even in this position, it's not over.

07:25The position's equal.

07:29But Magnus will always continue to ask questions, right?

07:32I mean, black has overextended a little bit.

07:34He's got pawns on e4 and h4, which could be long-term problems.

07:37How do you even, you know, like, what do you do in a position like this, right?

07:40So Magnus plays queen c2.

07:42Long-term infiltration ideas, maybe centralizing, right?

07:45Creating some pressure.

07:46Black tries to justify his early offensive game.

07:51And in this position, you know, continues with the attack with g5.

07:54I'm not sure that's the best approach because now black will have long-term weaknesses near

07:57the king.

07:58He goes all in now.

07:59He goes all in.

08:00He begins feeling some of that pressure, like, what am I supposed to do in a position like

08:04this?

08:05Pawn goes to g4.

08:06Magnus takes the knight, removing stability from the black position.

08:10Now he trades like this and just simply puts the knight on the f4 square.

08:14Now what this move has done is prevented the move pawn to h3, disconnected the queen from

08:17the defense of the pawn.

08:19And there are many questions still remaining in the black position.

08:23Black is going to come back and defend himself.

08:24Now Magnus, queen and knight riding together.

08:27Very nice coordination.

08:28Bishop to e5.

08:29But Magnus takes the pawn on h4.

08:32Black played the move bishop to e5, I guess, with, yeah, with very little time on the clock.

08:36Two seconds.

08:38And then here, I guess, he got some bonus time back.

08:40Obviously, his time went up.

08:41That's, you know, from pressing the clock in chess.

08:45We go to an endgame, but now let's watch the magic happen, right?

08:49In that position, black overextended.

08:51Magnus capitalized, defended very nicely.

08:53Now how is he going to convert a pawn up queen endgame?

08:57Fun fact, when you have a queen, just queens and pawns, like 99 times out of 100, the person

09:02with more pawns is going to win the game in a king and pawn endgame.

09:05So what does Magnus do?

09:07Improves the position.

09:08Look at this methodical improvement.

09:10Everything is locked in now.

09:11And in this position, you will dart in with the queen, making sure the black queen cannot

09:15check you.

09:16You're threatening a queen trade.

09:17Yes, you are threatening a queen trade.

09:19Because even in a position where both queens are made, we have king to f4, and black is

09:24simply not going to be able to defend the pawns any longer.

09:27Here comes g5.

09:28Very nice move.

09:29Queen f5 check, and here black resigned.

09:32Why did black resign?

09:33Well, after a series of checks, what will happen is white will end up, let's say the

09:37king goes here, checking and winning the pawn on a6, and after that, white will be two pawns

09:42up with a passed a pawn with a very powerful king.

09:45The only chance you have of defending this position is a perpetual check, and that is

09:49not going to happen.

09:50Now that was an excellent game by the player with the black pieces.

09:52Excellent.

09:53Now, unfortunately, against Magnus, there is like five different phases of the game,

09:58and here was one of those later phases.

10:00If black had managed to hold himself together in this position with the long-term pressure,

10:04he would have been okay, but it wouldn't have been easy.

10:06Magnus would have kept asking questions, kept improving the position, and black, this is

10:10a lesson learned.

10:11You can't overextend, right?

10:13And that's exactly how he got punished.

10:15Now, in the next game, Magnus had white, and this time he went e4.

10:19By the way, this game, he went c4.

10:21It was in English.

10:22Here we have a English, but in reverse.

10:24We have a reverse Sicilian.

10:26Christian Holm, Norwegian player, but that doesn't really, you know.

10:29Just so you know, by the way, Magnus played that last game 96% accuracy, and this game

10:34Magnus played with 98.

10:36So imagine that the Magnus that you just saw in the previous game was a 96% Magnus, missing

10:41an opportunity, alleviating a little bit of pressure, you know, allowing the opponent

10:45to get an easy game.

10:46Now you're going to get a 98% Magnus.

10:48Like what do you do?

10:49I mean, what do you do?

10:50If you're going to play that tournament, you're freaking playing Magnus Carlsen, right?

10:55Leave.

10:56Just leave.

10:57Just leave.

10:58Just go for a walk or something around Oslo.

10:59Now, here again, like I already said, in modern era of chess, lower rated players, like 2485.

11:07Don't feel bad if you're not even 485, but lower rated players compared to Magnus have

11:11his opening know-how.

11:13They know openings at a level that has become unprecedented.

11:17So Magnus plays b3.

11:19This is called like the Schneider Sicilian.

11:22I mean, various b3s, technically Chess.com calls this the Västerinen.

11:27I don't know why, sounds Finnish.

11:34Is that correct?

11:36a6, move played by home.

11:39White obviously trying to play Bb2 and anticipating that his opponent wants to play here and here.

11:45Magnus puts b3 out but doesn't put his bishop out and wants to put the bishops like this.

11:50It's very funny.

11:51He spends some time here.

11:52He plays b3 and like this, and the opponent plays d5.

11:56Magnus trades, plays Bg2, and kind of a funny moment here, you know, if white gets a few

12:01more moves, he's going to castle.

12:03Then he's going to play Bb2 and d4.

12:05He's going to get a very easy game.

12:06Notice, black will probably have an isolated queen's pawn, just like in the previous game.

12:11Clearly Magnus liked that type of a position.

12:13But black actually gives this check and it's not so easy for white to make a move here.

12:17White trades the queens.

12:19The alternative was to move the king and not be able to castle.

12:22Now we have Nc6, Nc3, and the following position.

12:26By the way, here, black probably could have traded the queen and left white without the

12:32right to castle, but I think he didn't want to do that because then white would have brought

12:35his rook and walked the king over there.

12:38That's called castling by hand.

12:39Now we have Nc6 and we have this position.

12:42This is a totally different position than the previous game.

12:45In this position, queens got traded very early and the center pawns.

12:48Otherwise, both sides have A, B, C, D, F, G, H. Totally symmetric pawn structure as

12:54far as like the pawns standing on the board.

12:56Bf5 is the move played attacking this pawn.

13:00Now we have c3.

13:01That is a weird move, man.

13:03I mean, there is a huge hole in the position now.

13:06It's going to be, you know, big question is white going to get the pawn to c4?

13:09Where is the bishop going to go?

13:10Are you going to put the king the long way or are you going to put the king the short

13:13way?

13:14Meanwhile, black hasn't done anything special.

13:15He has just developed his knights, developed his bishop.

13:17If you're watching this as a beginner, this is the way you really should be playing your

13:19chess games.

13:21We have castles.

13:22Bishop to e7 and now rook e1, ready for e-file pressure.

13:26Black quickly castles and Magnus plays bishop to a3.

13:29Okay, putting some pressure here.

13:32This is still always on the cards.

13:33It's always something that we are considering.

13:35Black stabilizes.

13:36So far, so good.

13:37And Magnus plays Nf4.

13:41Just, you know, vague pressure toward the center.

13:43Pressure on this.

13:44His pieces are looking.

13:45His pieces are either looking at the pieces or they're looking at the pawns, right?

13:48Like every piece is kind of participating in the game.

13:50Another move in the future to consider is Nh4.

13:53Bishop d6 is designed to take the knight.

13:56You want to take the knight, you want to ruin your opponent's pawn structure, and it's not

13:59going to be particularly pretty.

14:01Magnus says okay.

14:03There's the move that Levi said in his recap.

14:04I don't know how he knew the recap was coming up, you know, before the game was over, but

14:08he knew.

14:09So the bishop comes to e4.

14:10Now we have f3.

14:11Just a very weird structure, like just a... this is not something normal.

14:14We got little kind of pawns over here, little pawns over here, you know.

14:18The bishop is sliding into the c2 square.

14:20Why is it sliding into the c2 square?

14:22Because it's not easy to attack, frankly.

14:25Like if you play Rc1, you know, first of all, you're not even threatening to take this because

14:29of this, but second of all, you know, I can move the bishop somewhere and you're not going

14:34to be so, you know, it's not going to be easy to take it.

14:36I can also take on e1 first, deflect you away, etc.

14:40So this is what happens, but now Black shows another idea here.

14:48Not shows, Black has another idea here, which is this move g5, giving away this bishop completely,

14:53but counterattacking via a fork, but he backs up.

14:57That's not the best move because now Magnus is able to grab the bishop, and he has two

15:02bishops versus one.

15:04Now, just like in the previous game, Magnus is going to make one inaccuracy.

15:08I'm going to point it out because, again, we're looking at his games via the lens of

15:12a computer, so we have to show that, but watch as Magnus beats a 2500 level player, a grandmaster

15:18level player.

15:19I know his title says I am, but you know, in chess, you get these things on the technicality.

15:24His opponent will be a grandmaster one day, likely.

15:27He's very, very, very high rated, and if not, then he will just be one of the world's strongest

15:30international masters.

15:32So Magnus goes knight d3.

15:33How do you win a position like this?

15:35You both got seven pawns.

15:36What do you have to do?

15:37You have to poke at the opponent's position in the right way.

15:40All right?

15:41So let's watch.

15:42f4.

15:43Simple.

15:44Opening up the light-squared bishop, targeting the black center.

15:47Black plays rook e2.

15:49Magnus defends his pawn.

15:50That move is not groundbreaking.

15:51Black goes king f8, trying to activate.

15:54Magnus goes c4.

15:56Poking at this, poking at this, poking at this, right?

16:00Now a5.

16:01That is a very, very convoluted move, but black already was clearly feeling the pressure.

16:07There was already no easy moves.

16:08You're going to have to lose this pawn and probably jump into the d4 square.

16:12Black goes here.

16:13Simple idea is that he wants to put the knight on b4.

16:15He wants extra stability on that square.

16:17Magnus plays pawn takes d5.

16:19The knight goes to b4.

16:21And now, watch as Magnus figures his way out of this position with a multi-move combination.

16:27This was really, really nasty.

16:29The computer here really likes taking this knight and wrapping the knight back around.

16:33Magnus goes here right away because he didn't want to give up the bishop for the knight

16:37just yet.

16:38He probably wanted it to be preserved in the long run.

16:41But black went knight f takes d5.

16:43The better move was to go knight b takes d5.

16:47But watch this.

16:48Looks like black has regained everything.

16:50Again, if I turn off the bar, you have no idea that it's better for white, right?

16:55Watch this.

16:57We attack the bishop, immediately punishing black for weakening the light squares.

17:02Black goes back.

17:03And now, watch this move.

17:05Bishop takes knight.

17:07That knight is under attack, so it's the one that has to move.

17:12And we lock the rook in the position, and that's the end of the game.

17:16Black played this move to create a little bit of counterplay.

17:19The second Magnus raised his fist, even a hand for a smack, everything fell apart in

17:26the black position.

17:27It's quite fascinating.

17:28And I think black resigned a few moves later.

17:31Here black resigned because the rook is hanging, the knight is hanging, and if you move the

17:37knight to b4, I'm simply going to take the rook and then take back.

17:40So I'll be up a knight.

17:42And black resigned because he was within his right to play until checkmate, although I

17:48don't think...

17:49Yeah, I think Magnus would have been able to figure it out.

17:52He beats people in equal positions, right?

17:54So I'm sure he would be able to do it up a knight.

17:56It's just a very clean game.

17:59It's so fascinating how from a position like this, this is the 20th move, it was resignation

18:05in six turns.

18:06Eight.

18:07Eight turns.

18:08I mean, it was resignation around here already, but just from a position of relative equality.

18:14How did that even happen?

18:15Well, he just basically attacked and attacked.

18:18Maybe b6 was a fatal mistake.

18:19b6 was a big destabilization of the position, but even then it was okay.

18:23Maybe rook e2 was a little bit too slow.

18:25Maybe king f8 was too slow.

18:27Maybe what black had to do here is get out and try to just sit, just stabilize and sit

18:32on the position.

18:34And the second that he got his pieces poorly coordinated, here came the roaring attack

18:38of all the pieces.

18:39And this just kind of shows how good Magnus is at coordinating everything.

18:43But okay, how good is Magnus at coordinating?

18:44I mean, those were 24, 70, 24, 80 rated players just under that grandmaster level.

18:49How does Magnus play against a former 2600 rated player?

18:52And I believe one of his coaches, if I'm not mistaken.

18:58Let's see.

18:59And also, let's look at the game from the black perspective.

19:01So first things first, how do you even win a game with black in 2025?

19:06In your case, in my case, it's actually a lot easier.

19:08At the high level, like I've already said, people have opening repertoires that are pretty

19:12annoying and solid.

19:16And so, watch what Magnus does in this game.

19:18He plays the Queen's Gambit declined with knight bd7, it's one of my favorites.

19:22After takes, takes and bishop to f4.

19:24What I know here is there is a line with the bishop going to b4, and a very quick pressure.

19:29You can also play bishop b4 followed by c5, you can play c6.

19:33Magnus plays knight b6, which if I check the opening database, yeah, it's like seldom played.

19:39And then when white went here, he went knight h5.

19:43Nobody has ever played like this.

19:44Look at the...

19:45You're seeing this above my frame.

19:47There are no games with this position found in the database, at least in high level chess

19:51openings.

19:52This man played knight b6 and knight h5 targeting the bishop.

19:55This is what you have to do in 2025.

19:57You need to provoke a fight.

20:00I'm not saying go out on the street and provoke a fight.

20:02I am saying in a chess game to win as a 2830 rated player, this is how you have to play

20:07the game of chess.

20:08You know, you've got to give what is a traditional advantage to your opponent.

20:12Look at Magnus' early opening.

20:14This is ridiculous.

20:15His knight is on the edge of the board over there on h5, right?

20:19He's looking over here because, again, what you are seeking desperately is imbalance.

20:24You just don't want to make it easy for your opponents to come up with a plan, right?

20:29e3, and now the biggest, right, the funniest moment of the opening.

20:33Magnus just waits.

20:34He's like, I'm not rushing to take the bishop.

20:37That's always going to happen.

20:39If the bishop goes to h4, I'm still not really rushing, but I will be able to play g5, and

20:44then I'll decide where I'm going to castle my king.

20:46Bishop d3, g6, nice and solid.

20:48White is also waiting, by the way.

20:50White is waiting like, is he going to take me and open up my rook?

20:53Magnus also waiting.

20:54This is very, very funny.

20:55Both guys are playing a waiting game.

20:57Neither side is committing their king.

20:59White continues to play a waiting game, wants to wrap the knight over here because the knight

21:03had no future on this side of the board.

21:05Bishop takes g6, never works because I will take and very easily protect my king, and

21:09now Magnus castles short side despite pushing all those pawns.

21:13And maybe he could have also considered castling this way, but probably White's attack would

21:17have been a little bit too powerful.

21:18So look, at some point, that knight has to be taken, knight d7, knight a4.

21:22Finally he's like, this is the only way to make progress in this position.

21:24Okay, now what?

21:25How are we going to make progress here?

21:27First things first, let's back up.

21:29Even though we opened up the position for our rook, right, for the opponent's rook and

21:33bishop, the opponent has to do something with the rook and the bishop, and right now that

21:36is not that simple.

21:38How is the opponent going to do something with the rook and bishop?

21:41Okay, opponent's going to play g4, logical move restricting me.

21:45I'll play a5, obviously long-term idea to then play b5.

21:51I'm taking space, and I have long-term attacking prospects.

21:54White plays knight c5.

21:56Black plays rook b8.

21:59This is what I want, and I also want to maybe restrict White from this very easy improving

22:02move b4.

22:03Agnieszka plays bishop e2, Magnus takes on c5, and now d takes c5 is the best move.

22:11Opening up the d-file for a future rook, securing a lockdown on the b6 square, but I think what

22:16Magnus liked about forcing this is the White knight now has no clear plan.

22:21Like at least if the knight had gone to c5, it looks a bit more natural, but that wouldn't

22:24have been the best move.

22:25This actually is the best move, but it doesn't really matter.

22:27Now we are trying to improve our position a little bit.

22:30Long castle and let the games begin.

22:32This is how you have to win a game of chess at a very, very high level.

22:36You have to force your opponent into a fight.

22:39You cannot allow an opponent to play easy moves.

22:42Everybody's really, really good nowadays, all right?

22:44So now what?

22:45Now we play f5.

22:47We seize the moment, we seize the opportunity to create imbalance.

22:50We're pushing pawns in front of our king, we're pushing pawns in the center, we're pushing

22:53pawns on the right side of the board, the queen side, pushing pawns everywhere.

22:56Very, very complicated position.

22:57Bishop d3 is a great move.

22:59Now if I take this pawn, bishop takes g6, cover is blown.

23:02King is busted open.

23:04Magnus goes queen c7.

23:05Maybe he's going to put his queen in the middle of the board.

23:06f4, not allowing that to happen, but a long-term weakness on e3.

23:10Will this game make it to an endgame?

23:12That's a whole other story, right?

23:13Will we end up in an endgame where some of these things are going to matter, these long-term

23:16moves?

23:17Rook h6, simple point.

23:19Putting pressure on another pawn in black's position and obviously, you know, you want

23:23to double up the rooks.

23:24Magnus defends.

23:25Agdestein plays rook to h1.

23:28Bishop f8, asking the question of what the rook is doing.

23:30The rook backs up.

23:32Queen e7.

23:33It's still a question of like where and how.

23:37How are we going to create counterchances?

23:39White's attack at some point is going to run into a stall.

23:43This almost looks like it, but the thing is white is actually not finished.

23:47Like white has still some haymakers to throw, and let's not forget there is the inclusion

23:52of the queen, the rare triple battery, Alekhine's gun, 19 points of material barreling down

23:58toward your king.

23:59You do have to be careful.

24:01And there it is.

24:03The critical moment of the game, downtime, right?

24:07Magnus before this move, eight minutes on the clock versus 14.

24:09Not a clear shot.

24:11It's just like in sports.

24:13Clutch moment deep into the game.

24:15Time is ticking.

24:16Pressure is on.

24:17Not clear how you're going to pull it off.

24:19Magnus Carlsen sacrifices a center pawn.

24:23You look at this move and you go, what?

24:26What is the point?

24:27Well, we unclog the arteries.

24:29The bishop is alive.

24:31The queen is alive.

24:32The rook is alive.

24:33The pieces need space.

24:34Agdestan now has to stabilize the position with 355 on the clock.

24:39He doesn't.

24:40Instead of stabilizing, he says, all right, I'm rolling the dice.

24:43Here we go.

24:44Queen takes d4.

24:45The queen now sees no less than four important targets in the white position.

24:50Still here you have to hold your nerves.

24:51Pawn takes f5 is the best move.

24:53Agdestan finds it.

24:55Magnus takes on f5.

24:56His king is looking open.

24:57So many of us would be scared here seeing a lot of ghosts.

25:01White plays rook d1.

25:02He takes his eye off the ball.

25:03His pieces were all well positioned.

25:06What he should have done here is probably taken a moment to bring back his knight and

25:10then kind of seen what was going to happen.

25:13White is even... the computer is just recommending just don't even do anything.

25:16Just improve the position of the king from any checks.

25:18This is a step in the wrong direction.

25:20Magnus, queen e3 check, king b1, and okay, I mean, yeah, putting both rooks there would

25:26have been better because now white can play knight b6, preventing the other rook from

25:29going there.

25:30But he doesn't do it.

25:31And now we have this.

25:32Yeah, the computer wanted rook d7 first.

25:34But again, two minutes on the clock, one minute remaining, pressure is on, and it is clearly

25:40black who has won the battle of the attack.

25:44Agdestan, whenever you have to remove your rooks from a position like this, like you

25:48have to back out of, you know, cave diving, all these videos where they got to go in and

25:52that stuff is terrifying.

25:54This stuff is basically what happened.

25:56They had to get out.

25:57They did get out.

25:58But at what cost?

25:59And the cost is that just like in any Magnus Carlsen game, everything you do 20 moves prior

26:07matters now.

26:08Remember how a long time ago I said what's going to happen if this game makes it into

26:12an endgame?

26:13Well, is it going to make it into an endgame?

26:15Voila!

26:17White has weaknesses.

26:18So does black.

26:19But they are much harder to exploit.

26:21This bishop is a beautiful defender and also an attacking piece.

26:25The king goes to defend.

26:26The pawn falls.

26:29Bishop on a f8, holding everything together.

26:31a4, very nice piece coordination.

26:34The rook drops back.

26:35It protects everybody.

26:37Rook f2 and the bishop comes alive right at the final moment.

26:42Bishop b3 check.

26:43We trade and here comes all of Mr. Endgame himself.

26:50Bishop d4.

26:51White resigns.

26:52White resigns.

26:53His knight is stranded on the edge of the board.

26:55This is a shining example of why a bishop is better than a knight.

26:57The knight is not going to be able to re-enter society.

27:00And if knight c3 is played here, you know what's by far the easiest way to win this

27:03game for black?

27:04You take the knight.

27:05It's not always a good decision, but this is hopeless.

27:08Why is this hopeless?

27:09Yes, the white rook on its own can stop the pawn, but you cannot stop the king in the

27:13pawn.

27:14It's just not possible.

27:15You can give all the checks you want.

27:16I'm going to go here.

27:17You're going to go here.

27:18I'm going to go here.

27:19You're going to go here.

27:20I'll go somewhere.

27:21King f2, rook h1, rook h7.

27:23And that is the end of the game.

27:24You never, ever, ever fight back here with white, ever, because your pawns run into mine.

27:29You are thoroughly dominated.

27:31And that, my friends, is how you control a game of chess against one of the strongest

27:35grandmasters in the world.

27:37You withstand their play.

27:38You see their ideas.

27:39You stabilize the position.

27:41And when the time is ticking, when the clock is ticking down, and you don't really know

27:45how do you break out of this closed position, clearance sacrifice in the center of the board,

27:49the initiative roars in, and suddenly they are backing out of your position, admitting

27:54that the counterplay is too strong.

27:57And at that point, you get into an endgame, and you clinically convert it without any

28:01problems.

28:02Another game, I believe at 97% this game was only, yeah, 96.5.

28:07And that, folks, is how Magnus Carlsen gets it done against grandmasters slightly under

28:13the grandmaster title, but grandmaster level players and very strong experienced players

28:18that have been playing chess for much longer than him.

28:20It's fascinating that he has the same title.

28:22I always love thinking about it that way.

28:25But yeah, that is the reality.

28:28And I hope you enjoyed this video.

28:30Like I said, I'm traveling.

28:31I'm on a travel setup, but I will be back home in a few days.

28:35So hopefully, you know, it won't have as much echo anymore.

28:38Big things happening in the Gotham household.

28:40We'll have some updates for all of you soon.

28:42And that's all.

28:43If you're new to the channel, we have tons of videos.

28:46Go watch Guess the Elo, How to Lose a Chess playlist.

28:50And I'll see you next time.

28:52Get out of here.

Category

Transcript

Recommended