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Welcome to the live commentary of the round 3 game between GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Ernesto Inarkiev. I am IM David Kanovsky and I will be commenting one of the most exciting games of today's round of the Baku Grand Prix. Magnus Carlsen is the top seeded at the competition, but has started with two draws and needs the win with white in this game. Ernesto Inarkiev recovered from the loss in round 1 and defeated one of the favorites of the competition, Mamedyarov. The game starts at 12:00 CET, do not miss it live on Chessdom.com!
This will be one of the first duels between Carlsen and Inarkiev. Lately, Carlsen prefers 1.e4, but that does not exclude the possibility of 1. d4 or even 1. c4. Inarkiev's favorite replies after 1. e4 are 1...e5 and 1...c5 and King Indian after 1.d4. A forecast? 1. e4 e5.
1.d4 Nf6 Magnus has chosen King Indian. The kid is playing the KID:)
2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 O-O This line has been played by Magnus against Cheparinov and Radjabov over the last year. But in these games 4...d6 5.e4 was chosen.
5.c3 h6 6.Bh4 d6 There are more than 50 games in this position in the database, yet Inarkiev spent a lot of time for this move. 7.e3 is a very good choice according to statistics, but Magnus has surely prepared something new.
7.e4 c5 8.dxc5 dxc5 We have a very similar position to the games with Radjabov and Cheparinov mentioned above, so Magnus is clearly prepared for this one.
9.Bc4 Nc6 10.O-O Carlsen's preparation is obvious - he has spent only 4 minutes, while Inarkiev has already consumed more than 15. The game continues similar lines to the ones mentioned above.
10... Nh5 If Magnus plays 11.Qe2 now and Ernesto 11...Qc7, we would reach exactly the same position as in the Carlsen-Cheparinov:-)
11.Qe2 Almost there:-) Although Magnus was able to beat Cheparinov in this line, I really don't believe that this variation could provide white with default opening advantage. Quite funny is that Rybka already values this position as slightly better for black...:-)
11... Qc7 Yep, we´ve got it!:-) Magnus is "home" and with 30 minutes plus in addition.
12.Rfe1 Na5 Cheparinov has chosen 12...Bg4 in this moment, and after wild complications in the middlegame, Magnus won slightly better (but probably drawish) endgame with knight and bishop against rook. You can watch this game with commentary here if you want.
13.Bb5 a6 14.Ba4 b5 15.Bc2 e5 Black is probably afraid of e5, so he plays e5 himself. 15...Rd8 and 15...Be6 were another possibilities. Now we have reached the position very similar to Ruy Lopez, but white figures are worse-placed than in the Spanish.
16.Nf1 Nf4 17.Qd1 The only Magnus' advantage now is much better time.
17... Nc4 18.Qb1 Magnus doesn't want to give his "Spanish" bishop (after 18.b3 for example)!
18... Bg4 I dislike white's position more with every next move, for example what to play now? Perhaps Bd1, but it seems a little bit strange...
19.Bd1 What else?
19... g5 20.Bg3 Rad8 Black easily finishes his development, meanwhile white will surely have problems.
21.h3 Bh5 22.Bxf4 It is necessary to take off this annoying black knight, but now black has clear advantage of two bishops and also potentially e-file for his second rook.
22... exf4 23.Be2 Bxf3!? I have to say that I am quite fond of two bishops, so I think I wouldn't play this move, but in this moment it's a good exchange, especially in connection with 24...b4 in the next move.
24.Bxf3 Nd2 As I said I would prefer 24...b4 here, but I understand that Ernesto is running into time trouble, so he wants to simplify the position as much as possible. (24... b4 was really better, for instance after 25.Be2 bxc3 26.bxc3 Na3 27.Qb3 Qa5 28.Rac1 Rb8 Magnus is left with big problem here...)
25.Nxd2 Rxd2 26.e5 Carlsen quickly starts something like a counter-attack, 26.Re2 or 26.Rd1 were calmer options.
26... Bxe5 Now white wins some tempi and I suppose he doesn't have problems any more. Black (maybe) could have had more chances after 26...Re8.
27.Qf5 f6 Again 27...Re8 was a good choice. 27...f6 weakens black king.
28.Rad1 Rfd8 Now the position is equal, for instance after 29.Rxd2
29.Qe6 Kg7 30.Qxa6 Magnus is a warrior and he tries to win the best of from Ernesto's time trouble!
30... b4 31.Rxd2 Rxd2 32.Rd1 bxc3 33.bxc3 Rxd1 34.Bxd1 c4 Nothing against 34...Bxc3 here.
35.Be2 Bxc3 36.Bxc4 Suddenly it's white who has small advantage thanks to passed a-pawn!:-) But the position is still balancing around draw.
36... Be5 37.Qe6 Qd8? ( Finally Carlsen's strategy pays dividend as Inarkiev makes a mistake in zeitnot! 37... h5 was necessary here! Allowing white queen to f7 can't be good! h5 was really a good move, since then the black king would have h6 square and also black can sometimes count with something like g4. For example: 38.a4 Kh6 39.Qd5 g4! 40.a5 g3 41.fxg3 fxg3 with very good chances for a draw.)
38.Qf7 Kh8 39.f3 ( White first saves his king, before "going forward". But also 39.Qg6! looked very well! Now black has two options: after 39... Qd1 (39... Qf8 40.a4 Bc7 41.Bd3 Qg7 42.Qe8 Qg8 43.Qd7 Bd8 44.Qf5! and white should be also winning!) 40.Kh2 f3 41.g3 Bxg3 42.Kxg3 Qd6 43.Kxf3 Qf4 44.Kg2 Qxc4 45.Qxh6 Kg8 46.Qg6 Kh8 47.Qxf6 Kh7 48.Qxg5 is white winning)
39... Bd6 40.a4 Bb4 Well, time stress is over.
41.Kh2 Qf8 Magnus still has very good winning chances. It's extremely difficult to defend these kind of positions.
42.Qg6 Well, probably black has no defence, a-pawn and black king are too far from each other.
42... Be1 43.Bd3 f5 Black's last chance is to create some complications. But I believe Magnus won't allow anything.
44.a5 Bg3 45.Kh1 Qg7 46.Qe8 Qg8 47.Qe5 Qg7 48.Qb8 Qg8 49.Qb6 White has more than one move that is leading to a win.
49... Qd5 The only move.
50.Qxh6 Kg8 51.Qxg5 Kf7 52.Qxf5 The easiest way to convert white's superiority.
52... Qxf5 53.Bxf5 Bf2 54.g4 Again the easiest way!
54... fxg3 55.f4 Kf6 56.Be4 Be3 There´s no defence against advancing white pawns. Black resigned. Truly incredible game! From the opening Magnus had absolutely nothing. On the contrary, had Ernesto played it with more faith, Magnus would be left faced with big problems! But due to his own time trouble, Inarkiev started to play "nervously" and after the biggest mistake in the game 37...Qd8?, the evaluation of the game has completely changed and Magnus won! Very lucky point for Magnus and unlucky failure for Ernesto!... Thank you for your attention and good bye! IM David Kanovsky, The Czech republic, http://www.dejf721.info
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