Autoplay:
Autoplay:
Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom coverage of the World Chess Cup. Yesterday Magnus Carlsen was in difficult position, but he managed to hold Lenier Dominguez to a draw, and today is his chance to score full point with white pieces. The course of events might depend on the opening, Dominguez likes to play Sicilian Naidorf on 1.e4, but he can also opt for boring Petroff. On 1.d4, his main defence is Queens Gambit Accepted. We're looking forward to an interesting game, enjoy!
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 Naidorf after all! Dominguez also going for a win
6.Be2 Bg5 and Bc4 are sharper, Carlsen is choosing to build positional pressure.
6... e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Bg5 Be6 9.Bxf6 White is quickly giving away his pair of bishops in order to achieve stronger pressure on d-file and better control on d5 square.
9... Bxf6 10.Qd3 Used by Rublevsky, Nisipeanu and imagine - Kramnik!
10... Bg5 11.Rd1 Nc6 12.a3!? ( Novelty! Carlsen is preventing nasty Nb4 before taking on d6. Previously played is 12.Qxd6 Qxd6 13.Rxd6 Ke7 14.Rd1 Nb4! where black has strong counterplay for sacrificed pawn. Nevertheless, Arkadij Naiditsch, Carlsen's opponent from 2nd round, lost in this line with black against lower rated player.)
12... Bxb3!? Good practical decision. Dominguez is also giving away bishop's pair in order to gain d4 square. This will be interesting position, with two eternal Knights on d4 and d5, and opposite-colored bishops.
13.cxb3 Nd4 14.b4 Rc8 15.O-O O-O 16.Bg4 Rc6 17. b5 is interesting now
17.g3!? Magnus is preparing f4, but he has to be careful as this could compromise his own king. (17.b5 axb5 18.Nxb5 Nxb5 19.Qxb5 and queenside pawn majority might be of importance in endgame)
17... g6!? Dominguez is following the same pattern, wants to play f5. In some positions, influence of Nd4 (controlling e2, f3 and f5) might be crucial. Now 18. f4 f5!? perhaps
18.f4 Bh6 (18... f5!? 19.exf5! (19.fxg5? fxg4 and black is slightly better because of f3 outpost.) 19... gxf5 20.Bh3 Bh6 21.fxe5 dxe5 22.Bxf5)
19.Rf2 Magnus is keeping the tension and preparing rooks doubling. 19...Qb6 is interesting, but 19...Bg7 probably the best (19.Ne2!? Ne6 (19... Nxe2+ 20.Qxe2) 20.f5 Qg5 21.fxe6 Qxg4 22.exf7+ Rxf7 23.Rxf7 Kxf7 24.Rf1+ Kg7 25.Nc3 looking good for white)
19... Bg7 On 20. Rdf1, black can play exf4!
20.f5 ( Magnus is killing the f4 tension. 20...Qg5 looking good for Dominguez now that Queen got some squares. Interesting was 20.Ne2 Nxe2+ 21.Rxe2)
20... Qg5 21.Bh3 Bh6!? Idea is Qe3 and it could be prevented with 22. Nd5. Bishop's h6-g7-h6 dance is possible because there is no more exf4 option.
22.Re1 Magnus keeps knight on c3 and uses rook to cover e3.
22... b5 23.Kg2 Ra8 Neither of the players can't improve over the next few moves, so some neutral 'small improvements' were expected. Is it possible that Dominguez won't wait and is going for a5? There is nice trick now that rook moved away from f-file: 24. fxg6 with Bd7, Nd5 and Nf6+ next. Let's see if Magnus goes for it.
24.fxg6 Most likely he saw the line :)
24... hxg6 25.Bd7! Rc4 (25... Rc7 26.Nd5)
26.b3! Rc7 (26... Nxb3 27.Nxb5 axb5 28.Qxb3 with decisive advantage after b5 and f7 are hanging)
27.Nd5 Rc1? ( A mistake. Dominguez had to say goodbye to exchange. 27... Rxd7 28.Nf6+ Kg7 29.Nxd7)
28.h4! Rxe1 ( Cuban decided to sacrifise queen for a rook and is lost now. If 28... Qd8 29.Rxc1 Bxc1 30.Qf1! double attack on c1 and f7 30... Qxd7? 31.Nf6+)
29.hxg5 Bxg5 30.Bg4 Ra1 Magnus is completely winning. He can go after 7th rank and f7 pawn or exchange the knights.
31.a4 Kg7 (31... bxa4 32.bxa4 Rxa4? 33.Nb6)
32.Nc3 Attacking b5 pawn and having Ne2 as an option.
32... Ra3 33.axb5 axb5 34.Nxb5 Nxb5 35.Qxb5 Be3 36.Rf1 Ra2+ 37.Be2 R8a7 38.Kh3 Ra8 39.Bc4 Rh8+ 40.Kg4 Rh5 41.Rxf7+ Kh6 42.Qd7 and Dominguez finally resigned. Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen for qualifying to the next round where he will meet Mickey 'The Spider' Adams. This concludes today's coverage of the World Chess Cup, have a nice day all.
1-0