Chess News

Malcolm Pein on…Birthday Blues

Malcolm Pein

March 4, 2021

It is back to the Opera Europe Rapid tournament in today’s Daily Telegraph chess column as Malcolm Pein ponders the patchy form of Magnus Carlsen.

Malcolm Pein on…Birthday Blues

Magnus Carlsen has struggled ever since he celebrated his 30th birthday on a beach in the Seychelles. The world champion lost that very day to Wesley So in the final of the Skilling Open online at Chess24 and in the next online event he was eliminated by Daniil Dubov in the Airthings Masters.

The world champion seems to find So a particularly difficult opponent and the US number two got the better of him again on Valentine’s Day in the final of the Opera Europe Rapid on Chess24 to which Carlsen was fortunate to even qualify for. So also defeated Carlsen in the finals of the World Chess 960 championship in 2019.

Carlsen spoke about a lack of confidence and it seems that at critical moments he does not trust his calculations.

W. So – M. Carlsen
Opera Euro Rapid KO Chess24.com
Giuoco Piano 15+10

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0–0 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 a5 7.Re1 0–0 8.Nbd2 Ba7 9.Nf1 Be6 10.Bb5 Ne7 11.d4 c6 12.Bd3 Ng6 13.h3 Nh5 14.Be3 Nhf4 15.Bc2 Qc8 16.Bb3

(Now 16…Bxh3! 17.gxh3 a4! 18.Bc4 d5 looks good for Black or after 16…Bxh3! 17.gxh3 a4! 18.Bxa4 Qxh3 19.Bxf4 Nxf4 20.Ne3 Rae8 21.Bb3 both 21…Re6! and 21…d5!? are better for Black) 16… exd4? 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Qxd4? Bxb3? (18…Nxg2! 19.Bxe6 Nxe1 20.Bxc8 Nf3+ 21.Kg2 Nxd4 wins material and after 18…Nxg2 19.Kxg2 Bxh3+ 20.Kh2 Nh4 21.Bd1.

Test Your Strength

What did Carlsen (Black, to play) miss?

19.axb3 d5 (Even now 19…Nxh3+! 20.gxh3? Nh4 21.Nh2 Qxh3 wins, White would have to move his king. Carlsen does sacrifice, but So holds with accurate play) 20.Qd2 Nxh3+ 21.gxh3 Qxh3 22.f4 Nh4 23.Nh2 dxe4 24.Qf2 Rfe8 25.Qf1 Qg3+ 26.Kh1 Nf5 27.Qg2 Qxg2+ 28.Kxg2 Nxe3+ 29.Rxe3 f5 30.Nf1 Red8 31.Ree1 Kf7 32.Red1 Kf6 33.Rxd8 Rxd8 34.Rxa5 g5 35.fxg5+ Kxg5 36.Kf2 h5 37.Ne3 b5 38.Nf1 h4 39.Ra7 Rh8 40.Rf7 h3 41.Ng3 h2 42.Rxf5+ Kg4 43.Rf6 h1N+ 44.Nxh1 Rxh1 45.Rxc6 Kf4 46.Rf6+ Ke5 47.Rf8 Rh2+ 48.Ke3 Rxb2 49.b4 Rh2 50.Re8+ Kd5 51.Rd8+ Ke5 52.Re8+ Kd5 53.Rd8+ Ke5 54.Re8+ draw.

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answer.

21…Bg2! 22.Ng3 Qh3+ 23.Kg1 Bf3 24.Bxf3 Nxf3#.

Try Chessable for free

4.9 with 3.65K user reviews

Check them on individual course pages

Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes