23 Apr 2008

Cramped in Round 3


Talk about cramped! Black kept pushing and pushing and by move 15...e5 had got himself a toehold in the white camp. White might have liked to play 16.Qd2 at that point, but unfortunately that square was occupied.

Black, after having chased the white LSB around the block in true Ruy fashion, managed to push up his e-pawn, with the threat of his heavy artillery piling up on the queenside.

At that point I couldn't see Carlsen escape a very cramped position, needing a hefty dollop of good luck in the form of a sizeable error by his opponent.






Of course I needn't have worried:
Magnus yet again made the most of his opponent's time trouble and came out of the time portal with enough advantage to give him a win.
As I write they are on move 49, with Black running short on time (11 mins left compared to 1 hr for Magnus), but already it looks like a firm win for White.

I'm sure when I get back later, he will have written down 1 - 0.
Well done yet again.

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