Magnus Carlsen vs Murali Karthikeyan (2023)

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Magnus Carlsen vs Murali Karthikeyan
Qatar Masters Open (2023), Doha QAT, rd 7, Oct-18
Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Tarrasch Variation (C77) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Oct-18-23		stone free or die: Carlsen messed up the order of Q+B moves, click for larger view <23.Bxh6 gxh6 24.Nxf6 Nxf6 25.Qf3+> works for equality, <23.Qf3 Qc6 24.Bxh6?> doesn't due to RxN interlude.

Oct-18-23		Messiah: Very interesting cheat by Karthikeyan!

Oct-18-23		stone free or die: I should also mention that 25.Ree1, 26.Re2 looks odd to my simple mind. (If the rook belonged on e2 why waste a tempo getting it there? Surely Black's king move didn't affect that decision much.)

Oct-18-23		metatron2: I don't understand what happened with Carlsen's 24. Bxh6? here I mean, if he saw 24.. Rxe4 and wanted to get into that R+p vs 2 minor pieces position, then its probably one of Carlsen's worst positional assessments ever, And if he didn't see 24.. Rxe4, then its Carlsen biggest blunder for a very long time, since its basically one-mover blunder.. So either way, that's a very very strange move

Oct-18-23		Check It Out: Reaction video could give us some clues.

Oct-18-23		tamar: One factor Nakamura pointed out is that Karthikeyan was very low on time,3:47, when he played 22…Qc6 and Carlsen took 9 minutes on 23 Bxh6 still leaving him with 22+minutes. Knowing Magnus’ incredible assessing abilities, I think he spent the majority of his 9 minute think overcoming his doubts about sacrificing, probably thinking he was worse, but that his opponent would not find the correct path.

Oct-19-23		Sally Simpson: He is losing his OTB aura. Players are circling like sharks to take a bite of out his rating. If he ever drops to No.2 in the rating charts I fear he will give up. One thing for sure, he will not want this event to be his swan song. He will want to end it on a podium in first place.

Oct-19-23		fredthebear: Echoes from the last century remind FTB of a chess saying that went something like "A master most often loses to a lower rated opponent by playing a faulty combination." At the moment, I can't recall who said that, perhaps Spielmann, Larry Evans, Reuben Fine, or Euwe; just cannot recall who but the concept has stuck. Don't overplay one's hand.

Oct-19-23		PeterLalic: <Sally Simpson: He is losing his OTB aura.> I agree. I believe that this is a watershed moment for Carlsen. He will shed FIDE points slowly but surely.

Oct-19-23		fabelhaft: Still a bit early to draw conclusions about this one event. In the ones before this he won the World Cup, and then first board gold with a margin of close to 100 Elo in the European Club Cup. The latter event was also played just before Qatar Masters. So he has been playing unusually much lately, but also looked out of shape assessment wise here. He has drawn lost positions and won drawn ones, and maybe felt that gambling when his opponent was in bad time trouble could pay off. For example 25. … Kb8 was an only move that might have been missed with a minute on the clock. But he said he no longer really prepares for classical events, and winging it too much will not work all the time. Carlsen does have bad tournaments once in a while otherwise too, but for the first time in almost 15 years it’s no longer clear he is the best player in the world. Looking at Elo performance over the last dozen months he has 2804, Caruana 2803 and Nakamura 2799, so it’s quite even there. Then it’s a rather big jump down to Giri in 4th, while Ding is in 12th.

Oct-19-23		Sally Simpson: Hi fabelhaft, I think he is still the best player in the world and one bad tournament really means nothing. But the OTB presence which all the truly great player have or had has taken a beating. Any player sporting a rating of 2500+ is a very good chess player. They will show no mercy and instead of being happy with a draw v Carlsen the unthinkable (beating him) is now a possibility. He will be a bit stunned (aren't we all) but I expect him to end with a couple of wins and put this behind him. He may be slightly suffering from my problem. My OTB game is shot to pieces and my libido is not what it used to be. I blame my parents. Father Time and Mother Nature.

Oct-19-23		MissScarlett: I had <While My Qatar Gently Weeps> in store for another Carlsen loss in this event, but then this happened: Y Yu vs Kramnik, 2014 I hadn't bothered to check before last night.

Oct-19-23		Messiah: I think it will serve the chess community to inspect the game from the so-called 'cheating point of view'. 1.e4 is a totally standard, normal move. 1...e5 - let's stop already at this point and consult the Opening Explorer: Opening Explorer - do you see anything curious? I do. Black could have opted for the much more common 1...c5, but rejected, playing 1...e5 instead. It consistently brings pretty good results for Black, 27.4% of the wins. I will not say that we are seeing anything suspicious, but my eyebrows already left their standard resting place. 2.Nf3 once again, a completely normal move. 2...Nc6 - something is off, the chess player feels. 27% of the games are winning after this move, so our suspicions can be legitimely raised, but I still reject to say this move indicates anything. 3.Bb5 is not a huge surprise. 3...a6 - now it is becoming really, really interesting. 24.6% of the games were won by Black, according to the database. How is it possible that the progression 27.4% -> 27% -> 24.6% occurs? Does Black knowingly go for an inferior position? Does Black willingly move a pawn in the opening phase, that is not a central pawn? Or is there something much more sinister going on? 4.Ba4 is perfectly normal and logical. 4...Nf6 - this is the point where I feel something weird is happening. We are down to 23.9% (!!!!!!!!) winnings for Black. Very, VERY weird decision by Black, something is out of place, obviously. 5.Nc3 is not the most common, but I do not see any problems with it. 5...b5 - the second move with a non-central pawn! Show me ANY Grandmaster game where this occurs and the side committing such a move wins! 6. Bb3 is natural. 6...Bc5 - and this is where we can be certain that something is really off in this game. Why does Black knowingly and purposefully leave the g7 pawn undefended? I will not imply anything, but Black's initial 6 moves are consistently confirmed by the strongest computer I have access to. I will not say this is obviously cheating. But what is the probability of such a sequence of moves occurring? OK, Karthikeyan is pretty strong, and he is a Grandmaster, but still: are we certain that the anti-cheating measures are really, REALLY good? Can you hide electronics in the eyeglasses? - or not...? Many, many questions. And it already starts with 1...e5 - how is it possible that right in the first move Black goes for a move that grants around 27.4% of the winnings? Is there something to check deeper? What do you think?

Oct-19-23		keypusher: < Messiah: I think it will serve the chess community to inspect the game from the so-called 'cheating point of view'.> You are actually capable of being funny/interesting when you try. But 99% of the time, you ask yourself, "What would an annoying immature jackass post here?" And then you post it.

Oct-20-23		Mathematicar: Can't wait for Jerry's analysis of this classical 1.e4 e5 game. Enough of Sicilians!

Oct-20-23		Saniyat24: Magnus miscalculates...!

Oct-25-23		shanmuga: If carlsen wins no questions asked . If he loses it is cheating . It may be just one bad game for carlsen and a best game for his opponent

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