Magnus Carlsen Has Fallen

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Teepe Seagman tournament.

0:05 This is an elite chess tournament happening in the first week of May 2026,

0:10 but the major news of course is that Magnus Carlson is playing in it.

0:14 Magnus Carlson plays in many tournaments,

0:16 but he doesn't play a lot of classical chess anymore.

0:20 And the game that I'm about to show you might be a reason why.

0:26 Uh, chess is incredibly stressful.

0:29 Uh, and this was probably the most roller coaster

0:33 game that Magnus Carlson has played in a decade.

0:37 Easily, easily, easily, easily.

0:40 Uh, his opponent in this game is the strong grandmaster from the Netherlands,

0:46 uh, Jordan Vanfest, and he actually worked on the team of Magnus Carlson.

0:53 There is a video on YouTube, uh, of the team of Magnus.

0:57 Jordan, uh, guys like Daniel Dubovv, Fine, Neielson, and yeah,

1:03 they just hung out in like a resort

1:05 during the last World Championship that Magnus played,

1:07 which was in 2021, and all of them played against each other.

1:10 Uh, and uh, yeah, since then, well, I mean,

1:12 they've had opportunities to play and here you go.

1:14 So, Yordan opened up with E4.

1:16 Magnus responded the most combative way, the Sicilian defense.

1:20 Uh, and then he went for D6.

1:22 And from the opening, he did not play a dragon with G6.

1:26 If you play D6 and knight F6,

1:29 nine times out of 10 at the elite level, you are going for A6.

1:32 You are going to play uh the knight orf Sicilian.

1:36 You also can play the classical Sicilian,

1:39 which is the four knights, but with the pawn on D6.

1:42 The the two the four knights with the pawn

1:43 here is literally called the four knights.

1:45 A little bit confusing, but that's the way it's called.

1:47 Magnus goes here.

1:48 Now, uh, in the Najdorf Sicilian, I say this every time there is a Najdorf

1:52 Sicilian featured in a game between two elite grand masters,

1:57 white here has no less than like 20 options on this move.

2:02 That's kind of crazy,

2:03 but it's quite literally the reality that we are living in.

2:06 Uh, white can push basically any of the pawns.

2:10 Uh, you probably just shouldn't go G4.

2:12 White can also put the bishop on E2, D3, and C4.

2:15 D2, E3, and G5.

2:17 not f4 because there would be a fork.

2:18 White can play queen d2, queen d3, queen e2,

2:21 queen f3 and even rook to g1 and even retreat the knight basically anywhere.

2:25 Now in this particular game plays f4.

2:27 This is one of the moves.

2:29 And the idea of this move is that in many

2:31 variations you would like to play the move e5.

2:33 Sometimes you get a really you know giga attack going.

2:36 If black plays e5 you can actually just chop that down.

2:40 Uh and yeah, I I have a friend uh who

2:42 has used the move F4 with great success at 2400 level,

2:46 winning some games against uh inter international uh masters and grand masters.

2:50 And Magnus pauses for a thing here and plays the move e5.

2:54 Indeed, now Jordan retreats the knight and obviously

2:58 we have the tension here with the pawns.

3:00 White can develop with bishop e2, bishop e3.

3:02 There's even some lines where white plays f5 and then g4.

3:06 Uh, I think I've seen Yanuishi play like that.

3:08 Although I might be confusing my Najdorfs.

3:10 But after bishop E7, uh, Yordan doesn't go bishop E2 or bishop E3.

3:14 He takes takes and does this.

3:19 We just swap the queens on the ninth move of the game.

3:21 How dare he?

3:22 He's entering an endgame against the best endgame player probably of all time.

3:29 You dare use my own spells against me, right?

3:32 Well, he develops the bishop and so does Magnus after 25 minutes of thought.

3:37 That is never a good sign.

3:39 It's never a good sign.

3:40 I actually have a feeling, and I mean, I don't want to insult the GOAT, right?

3:44 Um, but I have a feeling Magnus probably didn't remember

3:48 all of the intricate details uh of this particular variation.

3:52 Maybe he did.

3:53 Maybe that's completely wrong.

3:54 Uh, but after 25 minutes, you know,

3:56 he played in a way where he gave white a lot of potential initiative.

4:00 The way that white is supposed to play this position is

4:02 to black sorry black is supposed to put the bishop on c6.

4:07 So bishop d7 is actually the most flexible move

4:10 because after castles bishop c6 you immediately target this pawn

4:14 and yes white can try to go for knight

4:15 a5 except you can't because the bishop is covering.

4:18 So then white would have to do something and black can play knight bd7.

4:22 And maybe knew this.

4:24 Maybe he did.

4:25 I don't know.

4:26 Right.

4:26 I it's crazy to think he he didn't know

4:28 all of the intricate details of a position, right?

4:31 Maybe he knew this and he didn't

4:33 like how symmetrical and potentially drawish it was.

4:35 So, he went here.

4:35 Maybe he deliberately provoked Jordan.

4:37 And after knight C5,

4:40 black actually has the option here to retreat the bishop and defend the pawn.

4:45 Magnus didn't do that.

4:46 He went here.

4:47 So at this very moment we are looking at a spot

4:50 where Magnus is sacrificing his B pawn potentially allowing the doubling

4:55 of these pawns right like knight E6 and there is a very

4:58 legitimate chance we'll get a position like this very dynamic knights versus

5:01 bishops strange pawn structure so Magnus is playing very creatively

5:06 but he's down an hour if you go back just a few

5:11 of these moves I mean we just started the game Magnus played

5:15 five moves without thinking and in his max five moves spent an hour.

5:19 That cannot possibly be a good sign.

5:21 Even if you are the best chess player in the world, even if this 8 by8 grid,

5:25 you are the best player like of anybody, they sit you down,

5:27 you probably understand it better than anybody, it's probably a bad sign.

5:30 Now Jordan thinks for 39 35 minutes, which is very normal in this day and age.

5:35 And it's one of the things I hate about classical chess is that you

5:38 have to then spend half an hour

5:40 understanding why you memorized what you memorized.

5:44 Everything that Jordan played until

5:45 this point was memorized with engine analysis

5:48 and now he has to navigate the waters and he navigates them correctly.

5:51 This is the best move.

5:52 Uh taking on B7 is possible.

5:54 But then of course we'll get this.

5:56 So you develop the bishop, you stabilize.

5:58 Now black undevelops and Jordan also targets the bishop.

6:02 And the point is that if black were to retreat,

6:04 let's say here, well, white just has a lot more development.

6:07 White will castle and maybe play H3 and then

6:10 start jumping in the pieces into the board.

6:11 Magnus gives away the bishop and damages Jordan's pawn structure.

6:16 But in doing that, uh,

6:17 the B file will be open and white still has a lead in development.

6:21 And when you have a lead in development,

6:22 you can capitalize on that with something called initiative.

6:25 Initiative in chess is a series of moves that you make that create threats

6:29 to the opponent and also improve the placement of your pieces at the same time.

6:34 So, bishop D7.

6:35 Now, if I'm playing with white here, I'm looking at short castle.

6:38 If you're a beginner, intermediate, castling here probably the way to go.

6:42 Moving the knight again to attack that pawn probably not the way to go.

6:46 Or is it?

6:46 Bishop C6, rook B1.

6:49 Jordan is using the transformed pawn structure

6:52 and the open lines granted to him by his opponent.

6:55 He's actually very much playing this as if he was the guy playing with black.

7:01 So this pawn's given away, but you're going to get in on B7.

7:04 It's impossible to protect.

7:05 If black plays a move like B5, that's a very temporary solution.

7:09 Then I would do this.

7:10 Then I would try to trade off this pawn or maybe this pawn.

7:13 Uh and I would overtake you on the queen side with a significant advantage.

7:16 So we have bishop E4 takes takes and rook takes B7.

7:20 Now if you give this position to a beginner

7:24 or an intermediate and I ask you what should black do here?

7:29 I would hope over 90% of you say short castle.

7:32 Now, that is an oversimplification, right?

7:35 That black should just castle and figure it out.

7:39 But that's actually kind of what black should do.

7:41 Now, some of you are fancy and you'd be like,

7:43 I can make a backwards knight move and attack the rook.

7:46 Sure.

7:46 Some of you would say, I can make a backwards knight move and attack the rook.

7:49 And you'd hang your knight in one move.

7:50 And that's the way you play chess.

7:52 Magnus goes knight d7.

7:53 The idea of knight d7 is that well,

7:56 before he castles, he wants to free up his rook.

7:59 There is like a very vague outside chance

8:01 in some positions you can even long castle

8:03 as crazy as that looks but very very vague

8:06 and very very very unlikely but you can Yes.

8:09 But now you can't castle this way because your knight hangs.

8:11 So you have to move the knight make sure to protect and then castle.

8:14 Uh Jordan plays castles finally and Magnus plays rook C8.

8:20 Rook C8 targets the pawn on C3.

8:22 The reason why Magnus didn't take the pawn on C3 immediately,

8:25 I can only imagine, is because it would give white more time.

8:29 White could then play bishop D2.

8:31 And if the knight goes back attacking the bishop, now you will never castle.

8:34 And this is extremely instructive.

8:36 If your opponent has not castled, I have a slow run series on this channel.

8:39 And up until like 8 900, many people just don't castle.

8:43 They they violate principles and their king

8:45 in the center is super subjected to attacks.

8:48 It's very very vulnerable uh to to to these types of attacks.

8:52 That's why Magnus didn't take the pawn on C3.

8:54 He goes rook C8.

8:55 But Jordan plays C4.

8:57 And now we have a problem because in this position,

9:00 the plan that Magnus had was to play knight to F6 and then castle.

9:05 And he is a move away from getting that done.

9:09 But he totally missed a ghost move.

9:11 A move that simply looks impossible.

9:14 Knight to C6.

9:18 Maybe he saw it coming after he had reached

9:20 this position because I never want to say he missed this.

9:22 Maybe he missed this from a distance.

9:23 I doubt he missed it over the board.

9:25 Maybe he did.

9:25 I have no idea.

9:29 The problem with this is that if you castle, I fork you.

9:36 So, black actually instead of just losing

9:39 everything has to give away the knight,

9:42 has to give away the rook, give a check, allow the check, and lose this rook.

9:46 Magnus Carlson is down in exchange against Jordan Vanfist.

9:50 This is crazy.

9:50 Jordan's winning and Magnus has four minutes on the clock.

9:53 Four minutes to play 18 moves because on the 40th move they get bonus time.

9:57 This is probably the worst position Magnus Carlson

9:59 has had in 20 moves in a classical

10:00 game since he was like in his 20s and he's like 36 I think 36 this year.

10:06 I I believe 35 this year.

10:07 Whatever.

10:07 Doesn't matter.

10:09 Maybe that's not true.

10:10 But I I really think in at least a minimum of six years.

10:13 I cannot remember the last time he grabs this pawn on C4.

10:15 Now here with white, you are trying to obviously promote one of these two pawns.

10:20 That's going to be really difficult.

10:21 Uh if all of these pawns get swapped off,

10:24 the board rotates in this direction and it's going

10:26 to be a lot harder for you to win.

10:28 Two knights and extra pawns are very resilient

10:31 and that is what Magnus is going for.

10:33 All right, C4 played by Jordan.

10:34 Nice move.

10:35 Gives this away.

10:35 And now that now the C pawn is actually running.

10:38 He's managed to defend it very nicely.

10:41 Rook C1 and he's three squares away from winning.

10:43 like if Jordan gets this this this it's game over.

10:45 So, black has to act immediately and he plays rook

10:48 to C2 uh stopping uh any potential uh you know further advancement.

10:53 So, rook C2 is on the board.

10:54 All right.

10:55 Rook takes A6.

10:56 Jordan has gotten rid of another one of Magnus' pawns.

10:59 But now there's Oh, apparently knight to D5 was

11:04 better simultaneously creating targets and maybe knight E3 for counterplay.

11:08 But king to E7 back is the move played.

11:11 Jordan now can take huge advantage with rook E1,

11:13 but he gives a check first, which is apparently inaccurate.

11:16 The computer, the rest of this game is

11:19 a PhD student judging third grade mathematics class, literally.

11:24 King to E6.

11:25 Rook A6, recreating the threat.

11:26 Magnus again not playing knight to D5.

11:29 He's just repeating the position.

11:30 The boys repeat the position.

11:32 Rook D1 is played.

11:33 Apparently not the best move.

11:34 Knight to D5 is a great move.

11:35 Look at that.

11:36 If you take it, rook C1 is made.

11:38 So Jordan has to go with a check.

11:39 Very nice idea.

11:40 If you take my bishop, I take your knight with check.

11:42 Magnus doesn't doesn't blunder that.

11:44 All right.

11:45 Rook to A8.

11:46 Magnus plays Magnus here is kind of stuck.

11:49 Uh because if he goes to the back rank, rook A8 is absolutely vicious.

11:53 And now you cannot move the black king at all.

11:55 You have to go F6.

11:56 Give up a pawn with a check, which is completely devastating.

11:59 And then you're probably going to lose a second pawn with bishop.

12:02 But you're not actually going to lose the second pawn because of knight to E3.

12:04 Position is completely insane.

12:06 Bishop G5.

12:07 That move looks like it hangs a bishop.

12:09 It kind of does, but then you would take the knight.

12:12 The knight is still hanging.

12:13 So we have rook takes C5.

12:14 Magnus grabs Jordan's pawn.

12:16 Now Jordan has two pawns on this side of the board

12:18 that are probably not going to ever break through.

12:21 Bishop back all the way to C1.

12:23 The position is now once again equal,

12:24 but apparently not after the move pawn to H6.

12:27 Apparently not pawn to H6.

12:28 You have to go knight E F6 and just immediately establish a defensive position.

12:33 Everything protects everything.

12:34 The king tries to go here, but after rook a7, you're not able to do that because

12:39 your king is always going to be subjected to attacks.

12:40 H3 passing the move back.

12:42 Rook B5.

12:43 King H2.

12:44 Apparently a bad move from Jordan,

12:46 who now from 30 minutes up on the clock is down on time.

12:49 Knight back to F6.

12:50 Rook to D3.

12:51 And now both guys have made it to the 40th move.

12:54 And I'm pretty sure they get bonus time.

12:56 So now they have a lot of time to play this endame.

12:58 And Jordan is going to have to find a way to break through.

13:01 The way white wins this is by simplifying.

13:04 You're not going to checkmate black with these pieces.

13:06 There's too there's too many.

13:07 If you trade a pair of rooks and you

13:09 win the pawn and you get rook versus knight,

13:11 rook versus knight purely is a draw, provided the knight is close to the king.

13:17 But with extra pawns, anything is possible.

13:19 So Jordan's going to try to beat the goat of endgame.

13:22 Rook G3.

13:22 Magnus plays knight H5.

13:23 Rook C3 trying to trade the rooks.

13:25 Magnus says, "No, thank you." Now we play rook C2, preventing the infiltration.

13:28 Magnus passes back the king move.

13:30 Jordan positioning himself, looking for something.

13:33 Rook E2, bishop C3.

13:34 Can't really find a way through.

13:36 Oh, maybe that's the way through.

13:39 Okay, the rook has to move.

13:41 Yorden goes bishop D4 and he manages to trade the rooks.

13:44 This is a big win, but still black has very good defenses.

13:48 Knight H4 for Magnus.

13:50 But now bishop D2 here.

13:52 The move G4 apparently was very strong.

13:55 And the point is that you go for bishop F2,

13:57 target the knight, which now cannot return here.

13:59 And after bishop f2, the king can come here with G4 and then H4 and then H5.

14:03 That's apparently the way you do it.

14:05 Jordan doesn't play it and loses the pawn on G2.

14:08 So Jordan has one pawn left.

14:09 Let me be very clear.

14:10 If Jordan loses that pawn,

14:11 he's never winning this position ever in a million years.

14:14 So Magnus has actually fought back.

14:17 Jordan needed to play G4.

14:18 I'm not sure what he didn't like about this move, but he doesn't play G4.

14:22 He probably thought Magnus' pieces were going to be super stuck.

14:24 But now comes E4 and knight F3 is

14:28 possible hitting the bishop and giving away the knight.

14:31 It looks like the knights are just stuck.

14:32 The king is touching both knights.

14:33 They can't be, you know, parted.

14:35 So we have rook to A7.

14:37 Magnus goes king G8 and Yordan has blundered a draw

14:41 because the pawns and the knights are all working together.

14:43 How on earth is Magnus doing this?

14:45 Makes no sense at all that his remaining

14:47 pieces are able to defend each other this well.

14:49 Knight, bishop takes, knight takes.

14:51 This has to be a draw, right?

14:53 In all likelihood, this end game is a draw.

14:55 But I did tell you with extra pawns

14:56 on the board and the king far away from the knight.

14:58 It's not so simple.

14:59 With black, you think you put the king here,

15:01 the knight on, you know, the knight on F6.

15:03 But white is going to put the king on F5 and try to get

15:05 in with the rook and then try to put the king on G6.

15:07 It's not so simple.

15:08 King H7.

15:09 Magnus trying to defend himself.

15:10 King G6.

15:11 Rook E5.

15:12 Knight F5 check.

15:14 And apparently knight D4 straying away from the position was wrong.

15:19 It was better for him to play H5 check.

15:22 and if the king went to f4 to snuggle on that square.

15:25 So Magnus needed to keep the knight close to the king with H5 and knight H4.

15:31 Instead he wanders this way and before you

15:33 know it he makes a mistake and he's losing.

15:38 So apparently king H7 was incorrect.

15:40 Maybe throughout this point the king and the knight

15:42 are already so far apart that the knight is trappable.

15:45 A rook could trap a knight.

15:46 A rook could be put on a square where

15:48 the knight is not going to have enough mobility.

15:50 Knight D4 is apparently inaccurate.

15:52 Right here, the position is back to equal.

15:54 If black plays king to G6 on low depth, maybe it's not.

15:57 Maybe on table base, it's still winning.

15:58 But knight C3 is a big mistake.

16:00 It's a big mistake.

16:02 And after king to F5, the knight cannot come back.

16:04 It can only go via E2 potentially.

16:06 So Magnus is basically Magnus is just sitting on top

16:09 of a horse walking through the fields overlooking a Norwegian fjord.

16:14 Like he's just on top of a big mountain.

16:16 He's overlooking it, strolling through like typical Norwegian things,

16:18 picking berries or mushrooms.

16:20 I have absolutely no idea.

16:21 I don't know what they do over there in Norway.

16:23 Rook E7 is a mistake.

16:24 Instead of rook E7, rook D3 was the best

16:27 move of the knight is like borderline stuck.

16:28 It's like not getting out anytime soon.

16:30 Uh, and you know, you have like this and then

16:32 this and then the knight tries to escape this way

16:34 and you have king E4 and apparently the knight like

16:36 geometrically will will try to come back but he can't.

16:38 It's going to it's going to scramble over here.

16:40 There's going to be some sort of like king move like rook c4, rook c6,

16:44 and then I mean the knight's just stuck,

16:46 but okay, both guys have less than two minutes.

16:48 So, we have rook e7, which apparently is the wrong move.

16:50 Rook E7 is incorrect.

16:52 We're we're on the 68th move at this point.

16:53 Knight d4 check.

16:54 King F4.

16:54 King G6.

16:55 Rook E4.

16:56 But the game apparently is a draw again.

16:58 But knight B5, rook C4.

17:01 Magnus goes for a crazy complication, I think, here.

17:04 Uh, he had to go king G8.

17:06 Maybe that was his better chance, I think.

17:07 But okay, it it it's back to winning.

17:09 Rook C4.

17:10 Magnus goes king H5.

17:12 Allows the fork here with rook C5 check,

17:14 but then there would have been a G5 counter.

17:16 So Yordan is winning once again, but not with this move.

17:20 Jordan blunders a draw again.

17:22 Here he needed to play rook C5 and then basically wherever the knight

17:26 went like A7, there's some insane line where you get the same position,

17:30 but it's black's move.

17:32 So like rook C5, knight A7 uh or or or or yeah,

17:39 if you look at this, it's like rook C6,

17:40 knight A3, rook C3, knight B5, and then you like come back.

17:45 I you got to like walk the king over.

17:47 It's so complicated here.

17:49 Knight A3 is back to a draw apparently.

17:51 Rook to D4.

17:52 The knight continues to attack.

17:53 Rook D3.

17:54 King H4.

17:55 And Magnus has made a draw.

17:56 He's basically made the draw.

17:58 He needs to now go back with the knight.

18:00 There's no way to trap the knight.

18:01 If the rook was on C5, he would trap the knight.

18:04 But by that point, black would be running down the board with his pawns.

18:06 So Magnus has saved the game.

18:10 But here he needed to go back because if he went back it would be a draw.

18:20 But he goes forward.

18:21 And now and now after king F5 there is no move for black.

18:29 See, if black starts taking the pawn, there's rook C3.

18:31 That's the problem.

18:32 He completely he took away his own idea.

18:35 Now the knight goes to B1.

18:37 Rook C4 check is the winning move.

18:39 Yordan doesn't play it.

18:41 So, rook C4 check would win the game because if you take,

18:45 I take and the knight will never escape.

18:47 Why will it never escape?

18:48 If it goes to D2, rook C3, king G2, rook C2.

18:51 That is why.

18:51 So, that is why rook C4 wins the game.

18:54 Jordan doesn't play it.

18:56 And for like the 14th time, the game is a draw apparently.

19:00 Now Magnus only draws with the move G4.

19:03 Pawn takes.

19:04 Pawn takes.

19:05 King F4.

19:05 King H5.

19:07 I don't even know how I'm supposed to explain that to you.

19:09 He goes knight A3.

19:11 And he and and and and once again, Yordan doesn't play the best move.

19:15 He plays a good move.

19:16 Rook C5 was winning.

19:18 And in this position, rook A2 once again is a draw after knight C4.

19:24 And Magnus has to run back this way, not to D6 where he would be

19:29 susceptible to checks and potential things like this.

19:32 Apparently, knight D6 is losing to rook C5 check.

19:36 Knight B6 is a draw because knight D6 loses to check here.

19:42 Rook C6 and then there's mate and then like knight F7, there's rook F6.

19:46 But if you put the knight on B6 in this position, if you put the knight on B6,

19:52 then after rook C5, king H4, rook C6,

19:54 this is check and you don't get to mate me.

19:58 This this is so sick.

20:02 So Magnus goes here and that's losing.

20:04 That's losing because of rook to C3.

20:07 There now is no knight to B5.

20:09 Rook C5 like this.

20:10 Knight B1.

20:11 Very instructive.

20:13 The knight is on its worst place square

20:15 on the first rank in this type of endgame.

20:18 And Magnus Carlson resigned right here because the knight is stuck.

20:21 It only has three moves.

20:23 Knights on the on the rim.

20:25 Knight's on the corner.

20:26 They're bad.

20:27 They have a lot less movement.

20:29 But when you go to B6, you can go to A8, C8, D7, D5, C4, A4.

20:34 But once you get to that first rank, Magnus resigned.

20:36 He's got nothing here because in this position, you will just lose.

20:39 Rook D1 and that's game over.

20:41 And you don't have enough time.

20:42 Magnus Carlson going down to Jordan Yordan Vanfest.

20:45 An amazing win for Jordan.

20:46 Probably his first in classical maximum his second.

20:50 Definitely I think his first uh breaking I don't know.

20:53 I don't know what Magnus' streak was.

20:55 I can't to mention it was extremely long.

20:57 Um probably since Gash probably.

21:00 Yeah, probably the last time Magnus lost in classical

21:02 was the the table slam game against Gh.

21:05 And that was a 20inut recap of an insane game.

21:08 90 moves and Jordan wins.

21:11 Just sensational.

21:13 Uh and we have three more we have three more games to go.

21:15 We have Erdomush versus uh Grandelius.

21:18 And Grandilius is having a tough tournament.

21:20 He has as many points as me and I've sat here.

21:23 Okay.

21:24 Uh Erdomush opens with E4.

21:26 Grandilus happily playing uh E4 E5 looking for stability,

21:31 looking for a chill position.

21:33 And uh never mind bishop C5.

21:36 So this is some sort of sideline uh of the of the uh of the of the Ru

21:40 Lopez but just C3 very chill and the game kind of turns into a regular game.

21:45 Bishop B6 still I think this is a pretty big sideline.

21:50 White generally does not get all of this and attack the bishop with the tempo.

21:53 Black usually you know moves this uh but we have bishop G5 from Mr.

21:56 Domush and bishop H4 and he plays A4 looking to expand

22:00 with B4 and A5 forcing black to make a decision.

22:03 Now he plays the very strong move queen C1.

22:05 Queen C1 is so tough to explain.

22:11 Like I think basically it's better than playing queen C2 because in a lot

22:18 of positions the knight can hit you

22:20 and you're kind of susceptible to certain tactics.

22:23 Um also I think it prevents G5 in a lot of positions because knight takes,

22:29 pawn takes, and then queen G5.

22:31 It's just a more flexible move than queen C2.

22:33 It allows rook D1, although queen C2 does the same.

22:37 So yeah, I think the queen is just a little safer on this square.

22:41 Uh, but there might be an even more concrete reason.

22:42 I have no idea.

22:43 Queen E7, rook E1.

22:46 Now he takes on C6.

22:48 And we see the queen hitting C6, but they would have done the same thing on C2.

22:53 So tough to explain.

22:56 Queen E6.

22:57 He does grab the pawn.

22:58 He goes on the roller coaster ride.

23:00 Grandilia's bishop D7.

23:02 Take a look that black is up 50 minutes on the clock.

23:04 So, Grenelius the more experienced player.

23:07 Uh close to well definitely double the age of his young opponent.

23:11 Uh queen back to C2.

23:13 And now we do see in fact this move G5.

23:15 So with the move queen C1, it might have been exactly that.

23:18 I'm kind of learning on the fly here.

23:19 Erdomish is even teaching me some things like why queen C1.

23:23 Uh and we have knight H5.

23:24 So he's going to try to grab the bishop,

23:26 use the bishop pair, put some pressure on the position here.

23:29 potential counter, you know, counters with with the king side as well.

23:32 Very sharp position.

23:33 And the thing is Ardush is a superstar

23:35 at playing these positions with no time on the clock.

23:37 So D so E5 played.

23:39 He now has 19 minutes.

23:41 We have takes on G3.

23:42 Grandilius has had some good positions throughout this event.

23:45 He just hasn't been able to bring the game home or stabilize.

23:50 So G4.

23:50 Now we have pawn takes on D6, opening up the rook to attack the queen.

23:54 The knight is still hanging and looking to go to E5.

23:56 And a very classy move from Neils, forcing the trade of the queens.

24:00 The knight is still hanging.

24:01 You have to move it.

24:02 But now there's bishop takes D4, hitting the knight,

24:05 and the knight can take the bishop for free.

24:07 But then there's rook takes F2.

24:09 And now anywhere you move the rook, there's a discovered attack.

24:11 So you would think you have to go something like king H2.

24:13 But then you would actually get mated.

24:16 You would get mated.

24:17 The bishop would cover the escape square and there would

24:19 be a wall of pawns that you can't jump over.

24:21 It's an insane mating configuration.

24:23 Uh but so obviously that doesn't happen.

24:25 And do counters the bishop and the bishop can go all the way back here.

24:29 But rook F4 is also there.

24:31 Takes.

24:31 Takes.

24:32 The knight finally develops on the 25th move.

24:35 And here you need to take with the rook.

24:38 But just like the game against Erici, he takes with the pawn.

24:42 And that is literally all it all white needs.

24:45 Erdom at this very moment spots knight to D5.

24:50 Had black played rook takes d6, knight to d5 would have still been possible,

24:54 but it would have been useless because black would simply play

24:57 rook d8 and we would have a rook and horse sandwich.

25:00 When's the first when's the last time you've seen that if ever

25:03 c takes d6 allows this and there is no rook to d8.

25:07 I mean there is but it doesn't do anything because after knight

25:10 E7 I have a fork of fork where your rooks will never actually

25:13 protect each other and that is completely brutal because now Niels has

25:17 to defend against all this but here comes the rook and despite white's king

25:20 for a brief moment looking anemic it's actually the black king that is far

25:25 weaker invaded with the rook and two

25:27 attacking horses beautiful horses by the way

25:29 the horse was the story of the round rook E1 king H7

25:33 and Erdomush clutched down the stretch of this game this king is simply mated.

25:38 It's going to be simply mated.

25:39 Knight to G8.

25:40 Knight to E6.

25:41 Forks galore.

25:42 Rook to D1.

25:43 And the game ends with a mating net.

25:45 Rook to H7 is mate.

25:47 The king is walled in.

25:48 This is ruthless stuff from the young Turkish phenom.

25:52 I mean, this is an incredible game.

25:55 He needed only three pieces.

25:57 And let it be known that one of those pieces didn't even make it out.

26:00 Knight to F8 and a double.

26:02 Rook and knight mate on the seventh rank.

26:05 Insanity.

26:07 just just I mean like what a what a game.

26:09 He got the knight out on the 25th move.

26:12 25th move and then it went here and then the rook came and that's all it took.

26:16 The game literally ended with only rooks and knight knights moving and okay,

26:20 king H2 had to get out of the check.

26:21 Yes.

26:22 Out of the danger.

26:24 Incredibly impressive winner.

26:25 Domush now three out of four.

26:27 He hasn't played Magnus yet.

26:28 And now Magnus has officially tasted blood in his mouth.

26:32 Uh so he's probably going to be quite alive.

26:34 Uh he is um yeah I think he's going to be in in really aggro shape.

26:40 Uh Drew Jiner versus Andy Woodward.

26:43 I have hyped up Andy throughout this event.

26:46 We are going to get another Najdorf here and I said there are a million moves.

26:49 Jordan played F4.

26:50 She plays bishop D3 which is also a move that Jordan has played before.

26:54 Uh Jujin is having a tough event.

26:57 Everybody's going to try to play for a win

26:59 but in this game she shows very nice preparation in the Najdorf.

27:02 Very nice.

27:03 Knight to D5.

27:04 Uh played after some time.

27:06 That is a pawn sacrifice.

27:08 Um there are other moves here.

27:10 I don't actually know in the database.

27:12 This is already quite a rare line.

27:13 Bishop D3 followed by, you know, bringing the knight back like this.

27:16 Uh Andy just developed his pieces.

27:18 After knight D5, black needs to play knight takes and then grab like this.

27:23 I think Andy here thought for a long time and was like,

27:26 I'm going to play out of the preparation

27:28 of my opponent with bishop takes followed by knight B4.

27:32 The problem with playing in the Najdorf

27:34 of Sicilian to get out of your opponent's

27:37 preparation is that very often the position

27:39 is just immediately lost and it's immediately lost.

27:43 Uh, white is just threatening A3.

27:45 So, black has to act.

27:47 He goes G6.

27:48 She goes here.

27:48 Black is still threatening A3.

27:51 White is still threatening A3 rather.

27:52 Uh, and there's actually no way to stop A3 at all.

28:00 A3 is just winning the game on the spot.

28:02 Uh, he goes here.

28:05 What's amazing is that A3 is not even

28:06 the best move because there would be rook to D4.

28:09 You actually have to play F4 or bishop G5 here.

28:13 And Drew Jiner is up to the task.

28:15 I mean, she's like, "Yo, there is no way this can be good." Like,

28:20 okay, I have a three, but like I mean, come on.

28:22 What are you doing?

28:23 What is this?

28:23 Knight B4.

28:24 Rook C4.

28:24 You're playing like Gotham Chess out here, Andy.

28:27 E4.

28:27 Now A3.

28:28 Uh, and now there is no rook D4.

28:30 Now the game's lost.

28:30 I can literally just move on here.

28:32 Andy sacrificed the rook.

28:34 Won the pawn back.

28:35 But the problem with this position is that you are winning with white.

28:38 So now you don't just play a slow chill game.

28:40 You absolutely wall up the opponent.

28:42 You just hunt them down.

28:43 You attack the pawn.

28:44 He has to defend the pawn.

28:45 He's not even going to defend the pawn.

28:46 He has to castle his king.

28:47 Bishop B2.

28:48 And you simplify.

28:50 You simplify.

28:51 You're going to win the E pawn.

28:52 Queen D3.

28:53 Queen D6.

28:54 G4.

28:55 Then just chill.

28:56 Super chill game.

28:57 Super chill.

28:57 We just go to a completely winning endgame.

28:59 Queen E7 is an amazing final move.

29:01 F6.

29:02 You get you're going to get that that that back

29:04 and then you're going to queen this pawn.

29:06 Uh yeah, that was one of the worst games of Andy Woodward's career maybe.

29:09 I mean that just like crazy game.

29:11 I I think in the opening he was caught it with this move knight to D5.

29:15 And you know sometimes when you when you know the best move is to take

29:19 but you don't remember everything because obviously he's

29:21 like oh my god my opponent's really well prepared.

29:23 I have a feeling he just like rolled the dice.

29:25 He was like, I'm going to get out of her prep.

29:26 And sometimes in the night or that's just like that you lose.

29:29 You just lose.

29:31 And and this is so wild, you know, in modern chess like this is 2640 GM.

29:36 He is a monster chess player.

29:38 It happens.

29:38 And Drew Jiner was like, "What are you doing, bro?

29:42 F4 A3 just piled it on.

29:44 Very nice win for her.

29:45 Uh she gets a win." And it's it's now looking like there's going to be

29:49 one person struggling in this tournament and Niels has to get on the board.

29:53 Now we have uh Nobbeck versus Erici.

29:56 Uh and uh disregard that.

29:59 Um this was a Queen's Gambit declined a variation played many many times.

30:04 Bishop F5 is a very popular line.

30:06 Uh trying to develop the bishop, you know,

30:08 before doing anything on the queen side.

30:09 Knight E2 is a very edgy way to play.

30:12 Uh not developing to the typical square, but before you know it,

30:15 he's still going to find a way to develop

30:17 the knight just in a slightly more weird way.

30:20 And actually, you know, Nojack gets a really nice position.

30:23 He trades the light squareed bishops and then they trade like this.

30:25 And now is going to castle and try to do stuff on the queen side.

30:29 Normally in this structure, um, white does what's called a minority attack.

30:35 It it it I you know, there's some terms in chess that maybe we could reword,

30:42 but you try to play for A4, B4, B5.

30:44 Why is it called minority?

30:46 It's because there are less pawns on this side

30:48 of the board than this minority majority.

30:50 You understand?

30:51 I I I didn't invent that.

30:52 Okay.

30:53 Um but you're trying to attack on that side

30:56 of the board and and No actually does implement it very nicely.

30:59 Uh and here gets a very nice position.

31:01 Black is kind of restricted, very passive.

31:04 Uh here he trades the bishop, which is fantastic.

31:07 And he needs to now move the queen.

31:10 He could also play knight c5 immediately,

31:12 but if he played something like queen a3 followed by a knight move or rook b3,

31:16 he would have been he would have been crushing.

31:18 There would have been bishop d8 and now he needed to find rook b3 if queen a5.

31:23 This position is very good for white.

31:26 These pawns are very soft.

31:27 B4 is there.

31:28 Rook a1 is there.

31:29 Knight c5.

31:29 Knight e5 is there.

31:30 Very bad position for black.

31:32 He needed to be patient.

31:33 He wasn't patient.

31:34 He's still better.

31:37 Even queen b7 apparently here is a better move.

31:39 Knight C5.

31:40 And right here, he has probably still the best position that he's going to have.

31:46 He plays it slowly.

31:47 Bishop D6.

31:49 Improves the position.

31:50 Knight C5.

31:50 It's a dominant rook endgame position.

31:53 Plays rook C3.

31:54 And now he needs to go B4.

31:57 He did everything.

31:58 He needs to go B4.

31:59 I think he thought B4.

32:01 King E7.

32:02 B5.

32:03 Black just holds.

32:05 But actually this endgame, rook A3, CB, rook B5 is very good for white.

32:12 Very dangerous for black to play this endame.

32:14 The pawns are very weak and white structure is very good.

32:17 Uh but he went rook a5 and one move,

32:20 one hesitation actually allowed Arjunis to create a full blockade,

32:26 get enough counterplay,

32:28 and even though had a moment, as you saw when I spoiled it,

32:32 the game just ended in a draw.

32:33 Nobbeck certainly had a chance.

32:35 He's had his chances.

32:36 Um he was also beating Woodward,

32:38 so he had some really serious chances uh to score some points,

32:41 but after four rounds, it is the Turkish star, the youngest player in the field,

32:47 up to like number 20 in the world, if not even higher at this point.

32:50 Rating of like 2,7 something like that.

32:55 Um tomorrow it is Carlson versus the Chinese Grandmaster Ju Jiner.

33:00 He's going to look to bounce back.

33:02 Grandilas with white against Node.

33:04 No is going to look to take his head clean off.

33:06 You do not want to be the player

33:07 in this tournament to grant any points to the person struggling.

33:11 Uh and that is all I have for you today.

33:13 Hope you enjoyed the video and uh yeah, get out of