CORUS round 10

Carlsen versus the rather less wellknown Cuban Player, Leinier Dominguez, who is at present leading the tournament.
The result of this game will be decisive for Carlsen. Let's hope he has had enough of drawing too and will show it some welly today, or put the boot in, or whatever phrase springs to mind.








Grunfeld, with a slightly unusual move 4.Qb3 rather than one of the more frequent choices, such as 4.cxd5, 4.Bg5 or 4.Nf3



By move 11, after



it looks as if black will swipe the Queens off the board, and possible steer this into an early draw, to safeguard his overal positon in the tournament.



by playing 11...e5.

The boot is on the other foot today: it is Carlsen who is lagging behind in time. Interesting!

Carlsen is having none of it, and pushes the d-pawn rather than taking the e-pawn.

Sofar they are still following a game from the recent Elista tournament: Jakovenko versus Mamedyarov, 1/2.

After move 15.Qb3 * the position is this:



I have a feeling Carlsen outplayed his opponent in this little skirmish, although I can't quite put my finger on it. It is clear that he does not want to lose his Queen just yet and that probably means that he is really keen not to draw today. And this is where Carlsen parts company with Jakovenko, who did swap Queens and slid into a draw.

11.Bc1 e5 12.d5 ( not dxe) ..c6 13.Nf3 cxd5 (second attempt to swap Queens) 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.Qb3 *

Black is thinking, time is 1:30 vs 1:23.

15...Be6 seems a likely choice. White might choose to forgo castling.A possible sequence like this:

15...Be6 16.Bc4 Nd7 17.Bxd5 Qa5+ could still push White into a Queen trad off: 18.Ke2 Qa6+ 19.Qd3 Qxd3+

As it happens, Black opts for 15...Kh8 and yet again pushes for a Queen swap and Carlsen has to pay for avoiding it this time. No 16.Qxd5, but

16.Bc4 Nc6 17.Bxd5

A very subtle stage of the game and both players very accomplished.




The outcome from this little bit of sword play is that both DSB's are a little hemmed in, but White has greater control of the center .
Time 1:25 vs 1:08.

I would like it if Carlsen stuck to the straight and narrow for a change. I.o.w. play 18.h3 rather than some esoteric move.

Thank goodness, Carlsen plays 18.h3, which really looks quite promising, especially if he saves a tempo and leaves off castling.

Just came back and it looks as if the Carlsen squeeze-technique is not wasted on Dominguez: he is getting rattled in time trouble and has just made the wrong knife-edge move, 30....Bc2, putting the LSB on =b2= rather than =b4= and from there on in it was one error after another.
Well, finally a win for Carlsen and that will put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Well deserved and I am glad that his technique is worth adhering to, even in the face of many near misses earlier in the tournament.

Oh I do nice work :-)
Wish some more people came to visit.