Magnus Carlsen makes history

ladies and gentlemen another day another
record that Magnus Carlson has
broken and today I'm very excited to
announce that Magnus Carlson now has the
highest ever Blitz ELO achieved on
chess.com Crossing and surpassing
hikaru's recent
3336 with a record
3,340 yesterday Magnus lost LED onto
chess.com and decided he had had enough
of not being at the top of the
leaderboard and good Lord my friends
when I tell you uh this man absolutely
crushed several opponents in a row I am
not exaggerating I'm going to share a
few of these games with you uh and he
did it apparently on his phone and then
he took a photo with someone's dog I
think Magnus is currently in the US
recently he celebrated his birthday uh
at I think it was in Miami I don't know
he's having a you go look Miami is
like the best city in America to go to
for 3 days or 5 days I like I I don't
think there's a better place on Earth
that's like great for three to five days
and then is probably the worst place of
all time uh anyway beautiful dog uh I
was going to say beautiful man but you
know what I self-explanatory uh and um
his chest is beautiful and also speaks
for itself and in today's video I am
going to show you his
games from yesterday's run
also I have
 Magnus plays D4 I'm going to
take you up the rating ladder from
3313 to
3340 in this game he's playing the
second best Norwegian chess player in
the world Ari
andari Knight F6 and Magnus plays G4 I
just realized game review is going to
give us feedback which I find very funny
uh it's going to give us these these
annotations which is which is quite
hilarious um yeah this is a Gambit this
is called the Gibbons When Haagen Gambit
and basically Magnus is just giving away
his G Pawn to take the entire Center
like this it's a terrible opening but
not when he plays it when I play it I
you know I just I just lose all my games
uh the idea is very simple you give away
a flank Pawn a Side Pawn to take control
of the center win Tempe against your
opponent uh and then you want to maybe
even use the G file to attack the best
move here is definitely for black to
move the D- Pawn fighting back for space
in the center and defending the Knight
on G4 um but uh Arian goes back Magnus
attacks him again and again and again I
mean he just pushes him all the way I
don't know why game review is on by the
way I hope it's not on for the rest of
these uh for some reason here it's going
to give us these annotations uh and and
Magnus basically just develops as fast
as possible Right like again the
computer is is just being a mega hater
but
uh well it is what it is Arian captures
the Knight takes Magnus has a very big
Center he's going to play Knight F3 he's
going to put his Rook on G1 he's going
to play Bishop G5 targeting the queen
and maybe trading off that Bishop which
will soften up that G7 Pawn uh for the
Rook when
it oh my goodness when it gets to the
open file that's basically my only
symptom it's like my throat a little bit
and a slight cough and I guess I have to
talk for 30 minutes on camera uh so I'm
going to be coughing a little bit I do
apologize but I feel much better like I
had Co last year it was very bad I had
fever I felt Dead uh now I just feel
dead in side but that's because I'm a
chess player night I got Co for my
birthday I mean like seriously anyway
Magnus is two pawns down and makes a
rook
move which is just like gangster
Behavior Rook G1 the idea of Rook G1 is
that if Arian takes another
Pawn Magnus is going to go here and if
this trade happens he's going to be able
to take on G7 which is the entire idea
uh Arian clearly doesn't like that so he
doesn't take the pawn Magnus still goes
Bishop G5 so he's played this double
Pawn Gibbons V ven Haagen Gambit Arian
playing Queen D7 and then trying to
fight with his Knight but the second
that Arian takes his Knight off the
center Magnus takes this way and the
idea is that there is now a very nasty
threat and the threat is Rook
D1 and uh the threat is hitting the
queen and then mate so sensing that you
know Arian has to do something he takes
on
C4 and Magnus obviously has to no he
doesn't he hits him with Rook D1 anyway
the queen is hanging it can't move
because that's mate which is
brutal and so Arian he can move the
Knight back and cover instead he
sacrifices the queen which apparently is
a mistake Magnus centralizes forcing his
opponent to make a rook move so now he
can't Castle That way not that he was
maybe planning it anyway he shoves
aran's Bishop back then he plays Knight
B3 looking to reroute at some point he
tries to trade off aran's Bishop so he
can soften up that notice the time
Advantage as well and he just puts his
King on C1 King is completely safe Arian
has 12 seconds Bishop takes Knight C5
and when this Knight gets in boink this
is hanging that's hanging and the game
ends in a very brutal way Arian runs
away with his Bishop but his King
perishes
and is brutally checkmated in the center
of the board by wh's pieces King has
nowhere to go Knight and queen swarm
what a game uh I love when Magnus plays
offbeat gambits like it's so much fun
watching him play these like ridiculous
openings and by the way this is really
not that bad of a Gambit I mean it is it
is aggressive it is bold uh but uh not
all the games that Magnus played to get
to 3340 were were that crazy uh this
game against nihal sarin was one of the
most impressive positional games I've
ever SE seen in my life and I say that a
lot when he plays so first Magnus played
D4 Knight C6 which is like super
provocative because obviously white can
go
here and attack Black's Knight and then
black will get you know booted around
the center um but Nial is a London
player so he plays the London so how
does Magnus Carlson defeat an opening
that is as annoying as the London he
plays an imbalanced way put puts the
bishop on G4 and then he develops his
pieces in a way that that that's pretty
confrontational and now Magnus does
something which is very funny like we're
teaching all of our you know students
like put a knight in the set Castle no
he just plays
H5 dude just straight up plays H5 plays
H5 because if you play
H3 this could happen in the future which
is really really bad uh for white now
Nial allows Magnus to push on that side
of the board and then kicks him out with
his own H3 and now basically says look
Magnus this Pawn's going to be a
liability it's not going to be an asset
and I'm going to play C4 I'm I'm playing
in a in a style of Queen's Gambit right
C4 solid position I've made no no
mistakes I have an advantage stockfish
claims I have an advantage Magna says
yeah yeah I know but the only way I'm
going to beat a player of nihal's
caliber is creating a little bit of a
tactical situation a little bit of a
confrontational situation all right like
a little bit of a of a fight of a
struggle you know
but by pushing your H Pawn all the way
really like okay fine puts the bishop on
e4 notice how Nial is playing very fast
by the way Nial is not intimidated by
Magnus he is one of the world's fastest
players and accurate Magnus puts the
bishop on D5 and when this Knight left
the pressure Magnus now castles despite
having that pawn all the way Advanced on
H4 and the computer agrees with him
somehow he just understands that this
Pawn can't really be targeted for
example Knight F3 you just take play D5
and actually you're going to see that
that kind of happens Bishop F3 and
instead of taking the bishop allowing
the Knight to get there Magnus takes
this
Knight and then he puts his Pawn on D5
to have a strong Center and then he just
starts focusing on the queen side he's
like all right Nal you want to trade
Queens let's go I have a liability over
here but I think I'm strong enough to
beat you in a position that's completely
symmetrical neither side has a c Pawn
white has a bishop for a knight IM
balance which is supposed to be slightly
better Bishop to E2 and the idea is very
simple Knight F3 and I want to win your
Pawn I just want to go Knight F3 and at
which point this Pawn is going to
fall the Magnus plays
G5 and the idea of G5 is to meet Knight
F3 with Knight H7 or Knight E4 and
you're going to see that this
encroachment on the the white position
is not just a defensive necessity for
the black position it's actually
designed in an aggressive way now Magnus
Zips out to to D7 he could play here
also his King could go to G7 right there
it is slow Improvement it's a very
boring position no C pawns the Rooks are
staring at each other nobody wants to
take the other person's Rook because if
you take the other guy's Rook his Rook
is going to control the whole file now
Magnus plays F5 oh my clamping on that
and the king is going to go join the
pawns this is what you need in an end
game if you can take space without
creating
weaknesses it's a good thing you should
push pawns and chest as long as you're
not creating weaknesses this is a
weakness but it's not attackable which
is important if the Knight could attack
that pawn or the bishop could attack
that would be a problem there's no way
Nal starts attacking Magnus Magnus backs
up strikes at him with his flank Pawn we
have a trade and now this is the best
move Magnus plays all game and it is a
highlevel move
Knight
db8 returning I don't remember which
Knight that was but it goes to a home
Square reinforcing the Knight trying to
get out and there that is now a threat
so he has to be defended Magnus now
looks to take over the file by doubling
the Rooks we have a trade we have equal
material symmetrical pawns bde fgh two
Rooks and a knight how is Magnus going
to win this game it's 0 against one of
the best Blitz players in the world Nal
sarin
activate the Rook control the file
control the file now there's a golden
rule in
chess if you want to win an endgame that
you are trying to win particularly with
Rooks you trade one pair of
Rooks if you are trying to draw you
trade both and I'm saying that because
the best move here for white was King D1
I'm not saying I would have played King
D1 and I'm not saying Magnus would have
traded both Rooks he probably would have
gone
here but that's the the point you try to
trade all the Rooks cuz Knight vers
Knight probably can't win but let me
tell you who can win one rook and one
Knight and the reason for that is
defending with a rook is very
challenging against an offensive rook
and watch this suddenly that pawn
formation is an asset Knight C6 that
pawn is a weakness I'm zipping I'm I'm
I'm zigging and I'm zagging right I'm
going to G1 Knight B3 and nal's entire
position falls apart and that pawn is a
hero B7 by the way if you're confused
what happened there he didn't take
because there would have been this but G
takes H3 the Pawn's just going now he
takes he takes because of B7 Rook G8
Knight D7 here you do make your queen
but
uh and the crazy thing is that pawn that
Magnus advanced in the opening H5 and H4
literally won him the game it won him
the game because Nial reacted and they
played the entire end game on completely
symmetrical position but all Magnus had
is a space advantage and it is so crazy
to me he turned this into a win he
turned this into a winning idea this is
a 3100 rated Blitz player like you and I
could live three lifetimes combine all
of our trustability we wouldn't be near
that level crazy also I don't know why
Nal always changes like he's playing
under the Tanzania flag I he always
Chile um anyway what a game um I got two
more for you uh and uh this one was
against wonderful time wonderful time is
Twan mlle for a long time he was the
world's strongest I am he was crazy good
at Blitz is crazy good at Blitz I drew
him recently which was a big
accomplishment for me in title Tuesday
Magnus at this point
33-25 uh and we will end the day with
him playing Daniel nitzki um Daniel
nitzki probably was awake at like two in
the morning when Magnus was playing
these games like yo I gotta get some
games against Magnus and Magnus was on
fire wonderful time Twan mlay was
actually streaming these games as well
they played a a long match actually mlay
did quite well he had some good
positions against Magnus uh E4 E5 and
Magnus plays a Gambit he plays the
Danish
Gambit uh the Goring Gambit is
technically Knight F3 Knight C6 D4
technically this is the Goring gamut
with Knight F3 Knight C6 but D4 and now
not Queen takes but this and rather than
playing takes and accepting the Danish
Gambit mlay plays this move
and the theory here is that white takes
has an isolated Pawn develops and black
plants the queen on C4 those of you that
are Advanced players who actually study
the theory of some of these gambits uh
like you know at 900 at 900 life is good
you know your opponent uh you play this
your opponent takes you go here your
opponent takes and your opponent like
hangs a queen like that's life you know
at triple digits uh but you have to
study your theory at 900 so CD4 Knight
C6 white does this it looks like like
black is able to win this Pawn by taking
but you can't do that cuz I would remove
your oxygen tank I would take your
knight with check and then I would take
your queen for free so rather than that
black goes here and then takes and plays
Queen C4 and this has all been played
before the idea is to prevent white from
castling that's basically the point and
now black wants to Castle put pressure
on White's Center all been played before
what does Magnus do what he does best it
sends an invitation to to to mle like
let's go to the end game Queen B3 mlay
says yes I would like to go to the end
game but I want to do it my way now
you'll notice mlay spent 30 seconds on
that move more 27 plus 17 more than 30
seconds that was a that was that was
terrible calculation by me I have Co I
have Co brain uh 44 seconds right um now
this is Theory at which point you know
white has the doubled pawns but the
active rook and then both sides Castle
but Magnus uh does this and just very
cleanly just snags a pawn just takes the
B7 Pawn uh gives his opponent a check
and Now does not guard the pawn here but
rather gets out of the way because the
pawn on B2 is not that significant
because then I'll go here and I'll
immediately Counterattack so
mlay accidentally kind of falls into a
little bit of an opening trap and
basically has to trade off some pieces
and we have the following position
Magnus has Bishop for a knight and an
extra pawn and a little bit of imbalance
to work with and he just makes it look
so simple all right how do like how do
you win this with white you probably
plant your Bishop somewhere it's solid
defended and sniping the enemy position
then you advance your pawns you got to
double up your rook and remember the
rule of thumb if you're going to trade
Rooks you can trade one I would not
trade both but when you have Bishop
endgame up upon PA probably you're going
to win all right but last game it was
not as clear so he gets his Bishop
kicked out here comes L creating
counterplay right now some of you would
be tempted to defend your Pawn here
let's say Rook
C1 but then black is going to get active
black is going to start bothering you
play Knight D2 for example Rook A6 and
you got to be very careful Magnus here
understands that this is not a major
problem plays Rook
F5 the point is that if Knight C3 which
is completely free by the way suddenly
there's that let's say you play F6 Rook
C5 which is brutal because then I get in
and I'm gonna I'm going to eat everybody
over there
so mlle has to defend his King now
Magnus goes
here he immediately warps The Rook
around to attack the pawn that is the
softest in the black position forcing
black to play this ugly but necessary
defensive move that Rook is
toast and now and only now he advances
his weakness he's going to go here that
move has two purposes deflect The Rook
from the defense of the pawn but second
fix the pawn on the same color Square as
the bishop white wants a world in which
he can exploit the pawns on the same
color Square as his Bishop like that by
the way by the way but also he wants a
world in which at least one Rook
survives to Target the other pawns on
the dark squares so The Rook is going to
Target pawns on both colors the bishop
is going to Target pawns on light
squares and the pawns are going to work
in a way where they create a barrier
pushing back the opponent's pieces and
not letting them get comfortable on any
squares and then since it's an end game
that doesn't have Queens the king is
going to play a a prominent role with
Queens a king really shouldn't play a
prominent role in the end game cuz he's
going to get smacked around cuz the
queen is a beast all right Knight D2 and
by the way what a move targeting that
Bishop that's a little bit stuck in the
mud gangster move here from Magnus the
threat from black is to grab the bishop
and get in my dude says you want to take
my Bishop King F2 Bozo King F2 now if
you want my Bishop you activate my Rook
this leads to Rook A7 and the collapse
of your position right we get into a
rook end game I have this and they are
mobile that is a mobile set of Pawns now
mlay does it his own way he does it like
this Knight B3 at this point mlay is
busted up he doesn't trade Rooks he
keeps The Rook active but it's just a
matter of time Magnus is rapidly
approaching the position first he goes
here and plays defense but again he's
also up like 50 seconds on the clock so
he could technically do anything if this
was titled Tuesday and they had a second
of bonus time he actually has to win the
game he can't just like
stall F5 but look how clinical this is
that pawn is the the last Pawn remaining
Rook C7 but there's another major
problem here for black I wonder if you
understand what it is that Pawn's
weak but what is the other major problem
for black in this end game it's the king
when your king is not just not active
when your king is actively exploitable
it's a problem Rook A1 of course Magnus
finds it abandoning his Pawn because I'm
gonna get into the back rank it's not
made but I'm GNA trade your Rook remove
the defense of this pawn and it looks
like I can't get in at all right now but
let me tell you when that pawn goes away
I suddenly have two connected pass pawns
two connected pass pawns three four
squares away from queening is fatal and
when the dust settles Magnus is only a
pawn up but let me tell you this feels a
lot more than like like a lot more than
one Pawn now it really feels like a lot
more than one Pawn he pushes you can't
let the king get close if King E8 you
don't give a check you don't give a
check you can give a check as long as
you come back but you just play Rook C 7
and the idea is you go for these pawns
right let's say black plays G6 you you
you can even snag another Pawn but you
have to set this up in a way where you
slowly bring everybody forward grab as
much as you can and then push push in a
methodical way King F7 Rook C7 now you
can push why can you
push because you will play C6 here Ure
the queen promotes or black does this
and you promote with discover check and
you win the game and so Magnus got to
3330 clean game and this one against da
was sick this was the game that clinched
him the highest Blitz ELO 3340 of all
time I think the game previous he had
broken the record or he had tied it
maybe he was 3336 or
3337 but ending it on a good note
highest ever rating petting a dog while
while he's at it E4 from Daniel nitzki
Daniel
in my opinion in three Blitz
particularly online Blitz with no
increment no bonus time I think Daniel
nitzki on a good day is the third best I
want I want I want you to listen to what
I'm saying three minute no bonus time
especially online with a mouse the three
best players in the world are mnus
Hikaru and Daniel nitzki on a good day
that third place spot could be up for
debate it could be fuja it could be Nial
sarin who I just showed you but these
guys guys are monsters in 3 you start
adding bonus time like 3132 it's no
longer Dian because he loses a little
bit of that element of like time because
he's an aggressive player he's an
initiative player but if you let his
opponents have a Lifeline not to lose on
time that's a big Lifeline but he's in
my opinion on a good day top three in
the world in three in three chess which
is crazy which is like a crazy
accomplishment so very cool to see him
playing Bishop B5 it's a close Sicilian
with Bishop to B5 check it's called the
canal attack or the MOs I thought this
was called the Moscow variation but I
don't know uh and basically white brings
the bishop back because he already
forced black to make certain commitments
Magnus plays E6 and then starts taking a
little bit of space on the queen side
he's going to play Bishop E7 Bishop B7
and then he's going to Castle or he's
not going to do any of that he just's
going to play C4 which is interesting so
I don't know why he would play C4 and
not finish up his development first but
that's why I talk about the games and he
plays them he does this right away way
now it's a matter of which of these Pawn
breaks is white going to use right
closed position eight pawns each Pawn
break to make progress he does it this
way Magnus is not going to take he wants
to keep his pawns together but to enable
that he needs to make sure this Rook is
protected because every time a pawn
moves mentally you have to think what's
happening in the position what's opening
Bishop B7 now two things defend the Rook
we have a big trade da develops the
Knight targeting that weak pawn and
Magnus h
what why did Magnus not play like that
or that or something I I guess he didn't
like Knight
D4 which is crazy this dude just
straight up gives away a pawn for
nothing now I don't think this was
exactly planned but I think his level of
understanding here is so high again this
could be just guess like I could be
guessing him up it could have been 2
a.m. in Miami Magnus was in his
underwear like on the toilet and he just
hung the pawn on B5 and he just overes
underestimated White's position but
actually in the
Fallout it's really the position's
really
interesting because despite being down a
full Pawn like a pawn that just got
taken and you know a move later he just
gets out of the position like nothing
happened despite that happening somehow
this Pawn controls such important
squares in the white
position which if white doesn't fight
back for those squares with D3 or B3
he's never going to develop the dark
squared Bishop he's going to have to
move his D or B Pawn and it's actually
not that easy to do so Knight
B5 for example castles you may ask why
not this well because actually who's
going to guard that like that's that
pawn is going to be taken take take take
you know Queen E2 I'm gonna go D5 like
Black's chilling and then black is going
to spend the rest of the game fighting
against these two
so Knight A3 and now Magnus plays D5 he
he's the one he's the one calling the
shots he's like not so fast D even D5 is
a weird move to me because I thought the
whole idea was to pressure this he says
no let's trade naris is happy to make
that trade Bishop
D5 and niski gets everything he wants he
gets everything that you would think he
wants in the position he gets to trade
off his weak e four Pawn which was Under
Fire the C4 Pawn which was a thorn he's
Pawn up clean Pawn how is black better
how how is that
possible well he's better because how is
white actually going to you like are
these two pawns that are just standing
around are they assets or are they
liabilities right it's like white has
two precious jewels but black has an
avalanche has two Steamrollers just
going straight at them so are they
assets or they liabilities like like I
just want to draw your attention to
something if white got several moves in
a row okay and got a position that
looked like this right and then you know
let's say Rook C8 and then black played
like Knight C white played Knight C4 and
then white played like Bishop D2 and
then like Rook B1 now white is winning
look at the evaluation right now white
is pressuring now in a perfect world
what would happen is that you know white
would get these pawns like this but that
it's not a perfect world it's not a
perfect world so how are you going to
ensure that happens well di starts
pushing the second he pushes boom and
now that's weak Magnus trades Bishops
why does he trade because naroditsky
lost the
pawn so instead of B4 the computer
wanted white to undevelop his Knight and
defend that's not that's so hard I mean
and then Magnus would have gone here and
then he would have put his Queen on A1
just for good measure I mean like look
how disrespectful the move Queen A1 is
it's not the best move but
it's and
he grabs this narad disc's Pawn has
fallen he no longer has an advantage let
me tell you this Pawn's not feeling so
good without its friend all right qu
look at that move the shish kebab right
here we got the the red pepper the green
pepper we got the Adon Kebab on there
Bishop Chief oh where's that move coming
from Queen poking at the pawn Knight C5
immediately taking advantage of the
weaken square and Magnus won the pawn he
won the pawn Knight A7 though is a fork
slight blunder should have imp patient
should have played Rook A8 first Knight
D4 both guys miss it we're going to
forgive him for that Queen A4 Knight E4
hits the Queen Bishop takes Queen E4 and
now boink a clean Fork White could play
something like rookie too but I got news
for you I could maybe even take this
take take back rang Checkmate but that's
not how the game ends the game ends
Queen B1 Magnus grabs the Knight not
only does he grab the Knight he grabs
3340 the highest Blitz ELO in chess.com
history uh doing it by winning like 90%
of his games in crazy like interesting
sacrificing a pawn for a positional
grind that game against nalar and one of
the most impressive symmetrical type of
positions I've ever seen him win that
game against wonderful time Pawn up
surgical technique the crazy game
against tar
earlier it's just fun it's it's just fun
to watch and he did it all while
apparently on an iPhone just like
hanging out in a friend's house unless
you have place in Florida too but um
very fun I mean it's just it's just cool
to see um you all have a great rest of year
 I'm going to go rest my typing fingers pause hope you all have a great December 5th I'll see you in the next blog, get out of here