Carlsen dominated Nanjing. Kramnik dominated Tal Memorial. They faced each other in the first round of the London Chess Classic. Carlsen surprised Kramnik with 1. c4. His play was steady through out the game and scored a full point to lead this prestigious event.
Carlsen, M (2801) – Kramnik, V (2772) [A29]
London Chess Classic (1), 08.12.2009
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0–0 Be7 8.a3 0–0 9.b4 Be6 10.Rb1 f6 11.d3 a5 12.b5 Nd4 13.Nd2 Qc8 14.e3 Nf5 15.Qc2 Rd8 16.Bb2 a4 17.Rfc1 Nd6 18.Nde4 Ne8 19.Qe2 Bf8 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Qd7 22.d4 c6 23.Nc5 Bxc5 24.dxc5 Nc4 25.Rd1 Qc7 26.Bc1 Na5 27.bxc6 bxc6 28.Nxa4 Rxd1+ 29.Qxd1 Rd8 30.Qc2 Qf7 31.Nc3 Qh5 32.Ne2 Bf5 33.e4 Bg4 34.Ng3 Qf7 35.Bf1 Be6 36.Qc3 Ra8 37.Rb4 Qd7 38.f5 Bf7 39.Bf4 Qd1 40.Kf2 Nb3 41.Be2 Qb1 42.Bc4 Rxa3 43.Ne2 White wins 1–0
　
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It looks like Kramnik should have retreated with the queen rather than bringing the knight into action, pinning it, and putting himself in a hopeless position.
Level for a long time before Kramnik went astray. Good, accurate moves by Carlsen. Revenge for the loss at Dortmund!
Looked that way to me too, Anonymous, but his position was looking bad even before getting his queen to b1.
I have question, how often has Carlsen opened with c4? Have seen a lot of the four knights/kingside fianchetto in recent recent tourneys- is this hot line right now?
Also, Kramnik wasting time with his bishop was bad. Quite amazing though to see him outplayed that way. Excellent effort by Carlsen!
Sensational. One can compare the steadiness of White’s positional advantage with Capablanca or Karpov at their best, but White’s pieces had even more potential energy than that. A classic example of Knights on the rim being grim.
Also, 1.c4 was a great opening choice by Garrlsen. Looks like “The Changing of the Guard” took place 2 miles west of Buckingham Palace today.
I think it is a bit early to talk of the changing of the guard. It was one game and he did lose to Kramnik at Dortmund in the Summer. I think Kramnik still has a classical plus against Carlsen, but Carlsen is fearsome. Sure to have pleased Kasparov.
I hope Kramnik bounces back. He is usually philisophical about his loses. We’ll see.
I fear the tournament is already decided after the first round.
impressive stuff by carlsen. judging from computer analysis he played perfectly, not a single minor mistake in very complicated positions…
What Kramnik forgets is that he is playing Kasparov again and not a 19 year old Norwegian kid. Kramnik gets lulled into a false sense of security, then Kasparov springs the trap, playing mind games again. So long as Kasparov is behind the scenes the other players need to take Magnus as seriously as they did Kasparov. They should also have it that the Kasparov rating goes up whenever Magnus wins too.
All right!!! Kudos to Carlsen.
Jezzes, the McShane – Short match is boring…
That “Kasparov playing” talk you see here and there when Magnus wins is so utterly pathetic, and belongs in the kindergarten.
No suprise that Carlsen played the English Opening in England!
Im sure Carlsen is too be credited for this victory and not Kasparov.
Boring it may have been but it livened up. McShane beat Short on move 163.
Nd6-ne8 was a very unattractive maneuver.
I expect that is where black went wrong.
Yeah, ummm….
“Last week Kasparov visited Oslo for a few days. We had a good training session preparing for the London tournament.” -Carlsen
and c4 it was!
In one of the Kasparov – Karpov matches, the English was Kasparov’s weapon of choice with white. No surprise to see ‘his pupil’ playing it now.
It did seem likely since Kasparov couldn’t get anything with 1.e4 against Kramnik and 1.d4 would lead to his very well played Nimzo…so here we are 🙂
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1565704&kpage=2
Carlsen is mega talented, but Kasparov’a role is without question very significant. He even said in today’s interview “Today Kasparov told me that Kramnik might be uncomfortable in the kind of position that arose. I think he was right.”
Anyone who seems to thinks its alllll Carlsen is the one who has no clue what it takes to succeed at the top in chess or in any sport for that matter. NO ONE succeeds alone. (Not even Fischer).
regards,
King
When Kasparov rose to the top, he had been trained by Mikhail Botvinnik since age 10!!! I think we need to rewrite history and let the world know the truth. Not Kasparov, but Botvinnik beat karpov and held the chess world in an iron grasp for decades!
Uh huh. Give me a break. Carlsen deserves all the credit. He’s just coached by a former world champion. He’s not the first and will not be the last. Have you seen the game? Carlsen was unbelievably accurate in an unusual position and thoroughly outplayed Kramnik who had problems with his knight.
Carlsen is on his way to becoming a league of his own. Carlsen is, not Kasparov.
Casper,
Your comment about Botvinnik is flawed:
Karpov was born on May 23, 1951 at Zlatoust in the Urals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four. His early rise in chess was swift, as he became a Candidate Master by age eleven. At twelve, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik’s prestigious chess school, though Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: “The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there’s no future at all for him in this profession.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov
All we can say is that Kasparov and Karpov overcame Botvinnik’s bad teaching to become World Champion. Also, Kramnik was victim of Botvinnik’s too.
Even when you have the evidences clearly presented you stick by your delusions like all the people who think Tiger Woods is innocent too. Now we know where they come from.
Maybe I should have mentioned that my comment about it being Botvinnik deserving all the credit for Kasparov’s reign, was ironical? I thought that was clear.
That line of reasoning is just as flawed as saying that it’s Kasparov beating Kramnik and rising to the number one spot on the rating list instead of Carlsen himself.
Turns out this was not the smooth outplaying that my engine-unaided eye thought it was. On ChessOK.com one can get real-time analysis from Rybka 3, and this shows that Kramnik had the fantastic equalizing resource 32…Kf8!! At first glance a “computer nonsense move”, even hanging the h-pawn in many lines. I’ll leave readers to enjoy thinking about it. I certainly thought Black was effectively playing two Knights down here, but White’s position is unco-ordinated too.
Looks like my comment #5 started the Kasparov references in this thread. I went only as far as the opening choice 1.c4!, and Carlsen himself credited Garry for it—per this comment in Mig’s item. I stand by my opinion that this will be seen as Carlsen’s watershed victory/assertion of superiority over the players now in their 30s/40s. Of course Anand and Topalov remain, and another guy entering his 40s is doing rather well too this week…
@KWRegan,
I’ve been looking 32 Kf8. What an incredible move. Black has more resourses than I thought in that position. I don’t know how many human players could spot that move, but it’s an awesome one.
My reaction on the Kasparov issue was aimed mainly at the poster who wrote this :
“What Kramnik forgets is that he is playing Kasparov again and not a 19 year old Norwegian kid. Kramnik gets lulled into a false sense of security, then Kasparov springs the trap, playing mind games again. So long as Kasparov is behind the scenes the other players need to take Magnus as seriously as they did Kasparov. They should also have it that the Kasparov rating goes up whenever Magnus wins too.”
This I found ridiculous.
Of course Kasparov has a hand in the Carlsens opening repertoire and especially for Kramnik he must have had ideas, since he had such a hard time with him, losing the match. I wasnt saying Kasparov didnt have any influence, just like other coaches, he does, a lot. And he’s a damn good coach for Carlsen by the looks of it.
Still Carlsen is the one behind the pieces now, not Kasparov, and preparation a) only goes so far and b) is only partly Kasparovs.
Thank you for 32 Kf8. Took me a while before it started making sense. And i needed rybka for details.
You think Kramnik’s career is now finished because of this one loss do you Mr Regan?