GM Magnus Carlsen defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Friday’s second leg of the 2022 Velocity Chess Championship semi-finals.
The World Champion ran by means of one more match in what resulted in a collection of dominant victories in opposition to the world’s finest chess gamers. In his post-match interview, he was dissatisfied with the standard of his play, although he doubled his opponent’s rating (virtually tripled his!).
The ultimate between Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura SundayDDecember 18, 11:00 AM PT / 8:00 PM CET.
Reigning Blitz World Champion Vachier-Lagrave is the one participant in SCC historical past to beat Carlsen within the 2020 semi-finals. He additionally boasted a constructive rating in opposition to a formidable opponent in his management of the blitz. Mixed on board and on-line he is 18-17 with 15 attracts.
However, SmarterChess predicted a 68% to 32% victory for Carlsen, whereas the group additionally voted 84% to 16% for the Norwegian champion. He lived as much as expectations as he scored greater than twice as a lot as his opponent.
Blitz 5|1: Carlsen-Bassier-Lagrave 6.5-2.5
The primary phase of the practically four-hour present featured a dominant play by Carlsen, who remodeled the endgame with the identical precision he had distinguished himself within the chess world since his teenage years. He in all probability tends to play Colle Zukertort-type setups in white, hoping to catch opponents in much less outlined territory, and Ruy Lopez (his one experiment within the Fashionable Opening) in black. Did.
Each gamers had probabilities in Recreation 1 and the positions evened out in direction of the tip, but it surely was one other case of “Magnus doing Magnus factor”. The World Champion transformed a symmetrical endgame whereas many different gamers took the sport to a peaceable conclusion.
Carlsen performed a contemporary opening in Recreation 2. Maybe a doubtful opening in classical chess, however in blitz it was a combat try. It resulted in a draw and he switched to 1.e5 for the remainder of the phase.
The 2021 World Blitz Champions then fought again to tie the rating.
In Recreation 4, Carlsen adopted a barely totally different transfer 11…Bb7 (as a substitute of 11…c6) on Ruy Lopez Marshall Gambit. The traditional world champion confirmed the worth of two bishops, downing a pawn, lastly changing the opposite-colored bishop, and ending with a “bizarre approach”.
This star sport is analyzed by GM Rafael Leitao appears as Game of the Day as follows:
Carlsen spread his wings and took off in Game 5 after his opponent made a mistake.
After the draw, Carlsen won two in a row. It seemed like a familiar story was unfolding. It’s a runaway train where Carlsen goes on a rampage, as we saw in the match against GM Gukesh D and Fabiano Caruana.
The Frenchman has tied the last game of the segment, but will he be able to muster the strength to recover from a 4-point deficit with faster time control?
Blitz 3|1: Carlsen – Bassier – Lagrave 5-4
In this segment, Vachier-Lagrave played better chess than his opponent, but as commentator Hess opined on air (and this author agrees), he technically won Even positions could not be converted. He found many gaps in the Norwegian player’s armor, but was unable to convert even a single instance of the excess.
The first five games ended in a draw, demonstrating that the world champions are happy as long as they maintain their lead. In fact, he has only lost 3 games in this entire match. This cannot be said for his other matches.
Vachier-Lagrave abandoned his efforts on Ruy Lopez and picked up the English opening with white pieces in the first game of the segment. later rounds.
Carlsen blundered in the next game, but like the anti-hero Deadpool, he didn’t die when hit.
Carlsen blunders and Vasier Lagrave smiles😊.
The world champions advance to a draw.# speed chess pic.twitter.com/LZhovpaKsY
— ChesscomLive (@ChesscomLive) December 16, 2022
…and the subsequent sport.
Within the sport’s “Heartbreaker”, Vachier-Lagrave fell with a pair of rooks within the opposite-colored Bishop endgame, dropping the b5 pawn and moving into the mating web shortly afterwards.
The following sport was a surgical dissection of the Bishop’s Opening in a 22-handed miniature with black items.
“We’ve got loads of time to return again, however Magnus is not going to lose seven video games in a row. He isn’t going to,” Naroditsky mentioned because the match clock ticked. Enjoying properly was not sufficient. World champion Bassier Lagrave was so proof against dropping that his job appeared all of the extra unattainable.
The French grandmaster received the final sport of the phase with Luke’s endgame preparation and ruthless approach.
Nonetheless, with half-hour left on the match clock for the Bullet phase, Carlsen constructed himself a five-point buffer.
Bullet 1|1: Carlsen-Bassier-Lagrave 5.5-2.5
The primary two video games of this phase resulted in a draw, with the Beast of Lyon bleeding first in Recreation 3, however the World Champions took over for the remainder of the phase.
Recreation 3 featured 31…Re4’s lovely Queen Entice. To take the bullet first win.
Carlsen responded with a victory of his personal. After his very correct 21.Kf1!, used his personal king to guard his e2 knight. Naroditsky says: “
As soon as Carlsen discovered his rhythm, the ache prepare was by no means slowed down by his opponents. Through the broadcast, Naroditsky requested:
That is definitely a query that the world’s finest gamers have been grappling with for over a decade, and Nakamura hopes to disclose the reply this weekend.
How will you beat this agile, this agile, this quick, this ruthless, this technical Magnus Carlsen?
—Daniel Naroditsky
After two extra straight wins for the world champions, Bassier-Lagrave resigned from the match with eight minutes remaining. Unsurprisingly, he confronted his insurmountable eight-point deficit and the match was mathematically misplaced.
After the sport, Carlsen curiously mentioned:
Relating to the ultimate match in opposition to Nakamura: “I do not assume there have been any gamers who confirmed something near their finest stage within the semi-finals, so anybody who can step as much as the finals may have an opportunity.”
Carlsen received $9,923.08 and Vachier-Lagrave received $2,076.92 in profitable proportion.
All Video games | Semifinals
Velocity Chess Championship 2022 Bracket
The 2022 Velocity Chess Championship Foremost Occasion begins on November twenty third and ends on December twentieth. A prime pace chess participant, a 16-player knockout noticed him compete in three totally different time controls, incomes a share of the $100,000 prize pool and essentially the most prestigious title in on-line chess.
GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and extra will battle it out to find out the 2022 pace chess champion.
Earlier report: