Magnus Carlsen's Game Of The Century - Top 10 of the 2000s - Carlsen vs. Ernst, 2004
Just as the 1950s are associated with the rise of the young Bobby Fischer, the 2000s cannot be separated from the rise of the young Magnus Carlsen. Today, we know Carlsen as a positional grinder, the player who (at least in the early 2010s) would win seemingly drawn endgames consistently against the world's best players. However, in the 2000s, we thought of Magnus as an attacking player!
Young Carlsen frequently overwhelmed his opponents with his incredible tactical vision producing beautiful and sacrificial assaults. None is more famous than his victory against Sipke Ernst at the age of 13 as the two players battled for victory in the Wijk Aan Zee C group. Carlsen's victory secured first place, elevation to the B group in the following year, and international acclaim.
Comparisons to Fischer's "Game of the Century" are natural as both games heralded the arrival of a new chess prodigy (both aged 13!) to the chess world.
Top 10 Games of the 2000s
- #1: Topalov vs. Aronian, 2006 (blog)
- #2: Morozevich vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2009 (blog)
- #3: Karjakin vs. Anand, 2006 (blog)
- #4: Rybka vs. Nakamura, 2008 (blog)
- #5: Fontaine vs. Vachier-Lagrave, 2007 (blog)
- #6: Sutovsky vs. Smirin, 2002 (blog)
- #7: Krasenkow vs. Nakamura, 2007 (blog)
- #8: Timofeev vs. Khismatullin, 2009 (blog)
- #9: Carlsen vs. Ernst, 2004
- #10: Schmaltz vs. Har-Zvi, 2001 (blog)
- See also: Top 10 of the 2010s
This battle takes place in a Caro-Kan as Carlsen varies slightly from a Polgar vs. Anand game and Ernst misses his deadly idea. Carlsen than launches an assault with a knight sacrifice that should have been rejected. Ernst accepts, but Carlsen is then able to sacrifice through Black's defenses exposing Ernst's monarch to a deadly heavy piece assault.
Interestingly, the sacrifice had been played before (though Carlsen denied seeing it), but the current co-owner of Chess24 with Magnus, GM Jan Gustafsson, got away with a draw when his opponent missed a clever defense and panicked.
Lessons:
- Set traps (AKA "create problems" 😛) for your opponents.
- Know your mates: epaulet
- An open king can almost never hold against a major piece attack.
My notes are below. Enjoy the game!
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I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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