Written by: Emadeldin Teama

World Chess Championship match - Game 2 :

Today we are going to review Game two. It has been a thrilling match with sharp play from both sides. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi played an outstanding game with the black pieces.

Carlsen started with the white pieces playing 1-d4. It seems like Carlsen wanted to play a closed game where he could grind down Ian with piece maneuvers. Ian responded with the flexible 1-..Nf6 the game continued with the following moves.

2-c4 e6 3-Nf3-d5 4-g3 Be7 5-Bg2 white is going for the Catalan like position. He aims to control the center with his pieces and perhaps have some activity in the center and the queenside. We would like to mention that white king is super safe in these positions.

5-…O-O 6-O-O dxc4!? This is a typical move for black. Black takes an advantage of the fact that white is not defending his c4 and will capture this pawn and keep it in most lines.This seems consistent with what Carlsen last game, Carlsen give up a pawn to get some activity and try to get some play for it. In this particular position, White is having strong pressure in the center and the queenside. Black pawns are usually under pressure and white has more control as we will see in the next moves.

7-Qc2 b5 (keeping the extra pawn while accepting weakness in the h1-a8 diagonal).

8-Ne5 c6

9-a4 Nd5!? Almost forced here. Black is trying to close this monster g2 bishop and keep the extra pawn at the same time.

10-Nc3 f6!? Kicking the knight away from the center and reducing the pressure on c6 pawn.

11-Nf3 Qd7?! 12-e4! Taking the center control over many squares and kicking the Knight on d5.

12-..Nb4!? The best square for the knight gaining a tempo over the white queen.

13- Qe2 Nd3!? A very human move to do. The knight on d3 seems strong. However, black should care about his queenside development first N8a6 would have been better.

14- e5 taking advantage of the lead in development and control over the center to wreck black.

14-..Bb7!? 15-exf6 Bxf6 16-Ne4!?

Carlsen is offering another pawn on d4! . However, it is extremely risky to go for it. White has developed all his pieces while black position is full of weaknesses and undeveloped minor pieces. Ian understand this perfectly so he politely refuse the second pawn and go for simple development move Na6!

16-..Na6!? 17-Ne5 Bxe5! A wise decision by ian. He gives up the two bishop in order to close on the e file and secure his e6 pawn. He also takes away a very active knight from white for his passive bishop which is a fair trade for black in addition to gaining the c5 square for his other knight.

18-dxe5 Nac5 19-Nd6?! Better was to exchange the knights.

19-.. Nb3! Black is better now. White must give up an exchange here!

20-Rb1 Nbxc1 21-Rbxc1 Nxc1 22-Rxc1 Carlsen prefers to exchange both knights for the exchange.

22-…Rab8 23-Rd1 Ba8?! Unnecessary move, light square bishop was already protected it was better to move the queen 24-Be4 c3? Black should be patient and he shouldn’t try to force a win directly. This pawn sacrifice is unjustified and carlsen start to get some compensation for it with the next very creative and annoying move.

25-Qc2 !? Very creative. h7 pawn is under attack.

25-..g6 26-bxc3 bxa4?! Destroying his pawn chain on the queenside. Ian played strangely under time pressure here the simple 26-..Qg7!? was enough to prevent any disparado sacrifice on g6 and keep black slightly better!

27-Qxa4 Rfd8 28-Ra1 c5! a discovered attack on the queen and the bishop offering a queen trade or bishop trade.

29-Qc4 Bxe4 30-Nxe4 Kh8 31-Nd6 Rb6!? Preparing to maybe double on the b file or sacrifice back the exchange in d6 in the right moment. There wasn’t any convient way to protect the c pawn so this seems like an ok decision to take for black.

32-Qxc5 Rdb8 33-Kg2 a6 34-Kh3! Crazy move by Carlsen, yet totally justified , the king is super safe on this square.

34-..Rc6 35-Qd4 Kg8 36-c4! Every single pawn is well protected now for Carlsen!

36-..Qc7 37-Qg4 Rxd6! Correct timing to give back the exchange.

38-exd6 Qxd6 39-c5!? Qxc5?! Carlsen has fully equalized now. it was better to play 39-Qc6 instead.

40-Qxe6+ kg7 41-Rxa6 killing all black dreams of winning. Now actually white is better and playing for win .However, if black manages to exchange queens this would be an easy draw.

41-…Rf8 keeping the rook close to the king is more important than hunting for the f2 pawn.

42- f4 Qf5+ Correct strategy for Ian now it is 3 vs 2 on the same side rooks endgame. Black can hold this position when the queens are off the board.

43-Qxf5 Rxf5 44-Ra7 Kg8 45-Kg4!? Carlsen is stubborn and wants to try and force some sort of win somehow!

45-..Rb5 showing a great understanding of this endgame. Black simply wont allow white king to go in , the remaining moves were unnecessary, however Carlsen is not tired and wont stop making traps even when it is dead draw!

46-Re7 Ra5 47-Re5 Ra7 48-h4 Kg7 49-h5!?

49-..Kh6! Ian calmly refuses any commitment in this position and just move his king up.

50-Kh4 Ra1 51-g4 Rh1+ 52-Kg3 gxh5 53-Re6+! Kg7 54-g5!?

White is trying to have a passed c pawn. At last he achieved it, however the black rook is so active that there would be no progress in this position . Ian forces a draw in the next few moves.

55-..Rg1+ 55-Kf2 Ra1 56-Rh6 Ra4 57-Kf3 Ra3+ 58-Kf2 Ra4. and a draw was offered here

Conclusion:

Another Big fight. Carlsen seems willing to give up material for positional imbalances and chances of winning ( and losing ) as well. Ian held himself in sharp tactical positions and showed a brilliant endgame play. Gm Ian had a chance to get a much better position but he messed it up under time pressure!

It seems that this world championship match gets more and more interesting only. Both players are going for sharp positions and are willing to play for the full point in every single game. We can’t wait for the next game tomorrow. Stay tuned!