Carlsen stays in the arena with chess title match looming

That he won another chess tournament doesn’t surprise anyone. But that world champion Magnus Carlsen is even playing these days — just over two months before the Norwegian great makes his fourth title defense against Russian challenger GM Ian Nepomniachtchi — might have a few old-school masters turning over in their grave.

Carlsen turned in another dominant performance in winning the 16-player online Aimchess Rapid Chess knockout tournament, convincingly dispatching Russian GM Vladislav Artemiev in the two-day finals Sunday. The win makes Carlsen the points leader heading into the season-ending Meltwater Chess Tour finals that end Oct. 4, another nine-day event in which both Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi are slated to compete.

The $300,000 finals prize fund is no doubt a significant lure, but the idea that a world champion and his challenger would play each other so close to such an important match would have been considered heresy back in the day. It used to be that top players, like heavyweight boxers, would retire to a secluded training camp for months ahead of a big match, working out, playing training games, pre-testing opening novelties and studying their opponent’s games for any weaknesses.

Competing so soon before such a momentous encounter risked fatigue or — worse — giving the enemy a peek into your preparation and playing strength. Even Bobby Fischer went dark before his famous match with Boris Spassky, playing in just one simultaneous exhibition between his win over Petrosian in October 1971 and the first game of the Reykjavik match the following July.

The modern approach appears to believe the some real-life sparring can protect a player from competitive rust and that computers can greatly shorten the opening preparation process.

And with his Russian challenger famous for his skill in complicated and unstable positions, Carlsen may actually have been doing some useful prep work in his game against Armenian (soon-to-be-American) GM Levon Aronian in the Aimchess semifinals, emerging from a wickedly complex game with a critical point.

It’s not clear what Nepomniachtchi could glean from Carlsen’s messy win over Aronian here, other than that the Norwegian champ is really good at picking his way through minefields no matter what the time control.

Black appears to be holding his own in this sharp Sicilian Najdorf until 34. Nc3 Ra8 35. Qxa8 Bxc4!? (an exchange sac that never quite pays off; simply 35…Rxa8 36. Rxa8+ Kh7 37. Ra7 Qd4! keeps Aronian very much in this double-edged position) 36. Qf3 Qd4 37. Rfc1 e4 38. Qe3 Qe5 39. h3 Re8 40. c6 Bd6 41. g3, when 41…Qf5! 42. Bd4 Nh5! would have put uncomfortable pressure on the White king.

Black seems to be finally ginning up some real threats with 46. gxf4 d2, but White has things well in hand: 47. Nxe4! dxc1=Q+ 48. Rxc1 (both Black bishops are attacked and 48…Rxe4? allows the White pawn to queen) Be7 (Rc8 49. Rxc4 Bb6 50. Nxf6+ Kg7 51. Nd5 Ba5 52. Rc5 and wins) 49. Rxc4 Rc8 50, Nc3 Kf8 51. Nd5, and Aronian resigned facing the loss of a piece after 51…Bd6 52. Rc6.

—-

Emanuel Lasker, who held the world title for a record 27 years from 1894 to 1921, was definitely a member of the never-show-’em-your-cards school of match preparation, often going years between major tournaments as he saw off all comers to his crown. The German great had not played in a major tournament since Cambridge Springs in 1904 when he defended his title three years later against American challenger Frank Marshall.

The result: a lopsided 11½-3½ victory for Lasker (eight wins and seven draws), including a magnificent win in the very first game that earned a spot in Chernev’s classic “The Most Instructive Games Ever Played.”

After a sharp opening involving an early piece offering from Black, one of the most celebrated positions in chess history arises after 13. fxe5!? 14. fxe4 d4 15. g3!? (not trying to keep the piece as trouble lurks in lines such as 15. Bd2?! Bg4 16. Qc1 Rf2 17. Bb4 Rxg2+! 18. Kxg2 Rf8, with a mating net around the White king, but better for Marshall would have been the simpler 15. Qd2! dxe3 16. Qxe3, with at least equality) Qf6 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Rf1 Qxf1+ 18. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 19. Kxf1 (see diagram).

Chernev rightly notes that almost every other master of the time (and even today) would have grabbed the tempo and the open file on offer now with 19…Ba6+ 20. Kg2 Rf8, but Lasker brilliantly sees a better way: 19…Rb8! 20. b3 (taking a fine potential square away from the White knight) Rb4!!, keeping the bishop home until White commits to a course of play, while activating the rook along the fifth file — a wonderful piece of positional intuition from the champ.

Marshall, who much preferred attack to passive defense, immediately errs with 21. c4? (better was 21. Nd2), handing Black a key passed pawn. After securing the d-pawn with 22…c5, Lasker drops his rook back a rank to apply pressure along the sixth file with 25. a3 Rh6! 26. h4 (b4 Ra6 27. Rf3 Bg4 28. Rb3 cxb4 29. axb4 Kf6 keeps Black in control) Ra6 27. Ra1 Bg4!, and the bishop finally deploys just in time to keep the White pieces from breaking out.

Black opens an avenue for invasion with the perfectly timed 31. Rd1 d3!, and then slowly squeezes the life out of the White position. After a rook trade, the White knight is reduced to shuttling between b1 and d2 as the Black pawns remorselessly advance.

With 47. b4 cxb4 48. c5, White finally manages a passed pawn of his own, but it is already far too late: 48…b3 49. Nc4 Kg3 50. Ne3 b2 and the pawn will queen; White resigned.

Carlsen-Aronian, Aimchess U.S. Rapid semifinals, September 2021

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bg5 Nbd7 9. a4 h6 10. Be3 Ng4 11. Bc1 Ngf6 12. Be3 Ng4 13. Bc1 b6 14. Nd2 Ngf6 15. Nc4 Nc5 16. b4 Ne6 17. Be3 Rb8 18. O-O O-O 19. Qd2 b5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Na3 Nc7 22. Naxb5 Nxb5 23. Nxb5 Nxe4 24. Qd3 Bf5 25. Ba7 Rc8 26. c4 Qd7 27. Qd5 Nf6 28. Qd2 d5 29. c5 d4 30. Bc4 Be6 31. Qe2 Rfd8 32. Bb6 d3 33. Qa2 Rf8 34. Nc3 Ra8 35. Qxa8 Bxc4 36. Qf3 Qd4 37. Rfc1 e4 38. Qe3 Qe5 39. h3 Re8 40. c6 Bd6 41. g3 Bxb4 42. Bd4 Qf5 43. Bxf6 gxf6 44. c7 Bc5 45. Qf4 Qxf4 46. gxf4 d2 47. Nxe4 dxc1=Q+ 48. Rxc1 Be7 49. Rxc4 Rc8 50. Nc3 Kf8 51. Nd5 Black resigns.

Marshall-Lasker, World Title Match, Game 1, New York, January 1907

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Be7 6. e5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8. Nf5 d5 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Re1 Qh4 12. Be3 f6 13. f3 fxe5 14. fxe4 d4 15. g3 Qf6 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Rf1 Qxf1+ 18. Qxf1 Rxf1+ 19. Kxf1 Rb8 20. b3 Rb5 21. c4 Rh5 22. Kg1 c5 23. Nd2 Kf7 24. Rf1+ Ke7 25. a3 Rh6 26. h4 Ra6 27. Ra1 Bg4 28. Kf2 Ke6 29. a4 Ke5 30. Kg2 Rf6 31. Re1 d3 32. Rf1 Kd4 33. Rxf6 gxf6 34. Kf2 c6 35. a5 a6 36. Nb1 Kxe4 37. Ke1 Be2 38. Nd2+ Ke3 39. Nb1 f5 40. Nd2 h5 41. Nb1 Kf3 42. Nc3 Kxg3 43. Na4 f4 44. Nxc5 f3 45. Ne4+ Kf4 46. Nd6 c5 47. b4 cxb4 48. c5 b3 49. Nc4 Kg3 50. Ne3 b2 White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.