Corus round 4

When he was eleven, facing his now coach, Garry Kasparov.


Carlsen is White against Short.

Black chooses my absolute non-favourite, the Scandinavian, which used to be known as the Centre Counter Defence. A weird hybrid where you can play either 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 or 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6.




Officially Black's aim is to get freedom for his pieces.
This won't do his pawn structure much good and he may also lose time. Will it give Black the chance of obstructing White's powerful centre?






In the version played here White will try to keep his -d4-pawn in place











Now Carlsen can push the Queenside and widen his front.
I was right, as Carlsen plays 14.b3, but I expected b4.





An unlikely blunder from Carlsen on move 23, where he plays 23.Qd3 rather than the lucrative 23.Re2. It was all going so well, after Black's less than perfect 21...h6


Why is it that Carlsen is never at his best facing Short? In London he didn't play his usual game either.

Kasparov waiting in the wings, won't be best pleased, I'm sure.

Draw.





Was there a way to a win for White if he had played a different move on 23.Qd3?
23.d5? 23. Rf2?

Anyways, Shirov is on a roll and has just defeated Smeets.He remains the overal leader. Ivanchuk beat Van Wely and the others drew.

Playable commented game later.