World Championship (Game One)

The following position was reached by 20. Ne2.



Black now played 20...Nc6. Geoff's note reads, "I thought the Knight was OK there. It is now off to find Kingside squares."

The retreat of Black's knight might have been partly to avoid 21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. c4!, mobilizing White's pawn majority and intending 23. d4. The attempt to prevent 23. d4 by playing 22...Bc5 could lead to 23. d4 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Bxd4 25. Nxd4 Rxd4 26. cxb5, when the mate threat will net White a second extra pawn. See next diagram for this sequence.



After 21. Bxb4 cxb4 22. c4, perhaps the least evil is to exchange first at c4. But after 22...bxc4, 23. bxc4 Bc5 24. d4 Bxf3 25. gxf3 Bxd4 26. Nxd4 Rxd4 27. Rxa6 regains the extra pawn, again due to Black's weak back rank. See next diagram for this sequence.

Hi, FMDavidHLevin,

Has the book arrived yet?

Thanks for the interest and analysis. I try to give an honest impression on what I would
do in a such and such a position. The lines above work. But here it is black to play


I should have added I would have and without a doubt played 20...h6 then all the
back rank threats and tricks are off the board.

I had not seen any of the lines you suggest. I was just surprised at where the Knight
was going, it looked OK (to me) on b4 so why not give luft. Not the first and definitely
not the last time a Carlsen move (or indeed a Nepo move - see my note to move 16 in game 2) has me baffled.

Good stuff, glad to see you used the PGN thingy and not just the bland score.

Hi greenpawn34,
The book hasn't arrived yet. I hope it isn't stuck behind a bunch of container ships. 😲

@FMDavidHLevin

That is surprising, I think it went airmail, I'm sure I paid for airmail.

I have the receipt somewhere. I'll be in touch via a PM.