Carlsen's style

As we will get the Dubai Carlsen-Nepomniachtchi world championship this week, I 'd like to analyze a recent game typical of Carlsen's style.

While Carlsen has played the Queen's Gambit declined and Slav in world championships in the past, I do suspect he may play the Nimzo Defense. 

He has played this quite a bit online in the last few years but less so in classical chess ( a few games though).

In the game I will analyze, he is facing Wesley So, a dangerous opponent in the top 10 in the world, currently #7

Now of course against 4.f3 you could play something like

4..c5 5d5 b5

The idea is that if White captures on b5, you capture on d5 with your knight, and Black is better.

Therefore White typically plays 6e4 and after 6..d6 a sharp middlegame awaits.

Alternatively you could play 4..d5 in the center and after a few moves you could reach this position

Position after 7..c5

But Carlsen has his own style.

And against  So, he tried 4..Nc6!?

What did Magnus intend to play against 5.e4 ? Maybe 5..e5 even though 5..d5 is also possible.

At any rate, Wesley So tried 5.a3 reaching a typical Saemisch position with White accepting the double pawns but getting the bishop pair.

Position after 7..Ba6

This is a typical Nimzo indian position and this requires excellent positional sense. Wesley So is once again a super strong GM, but  Carlsen is  the best in the world today when it comes to positional chess.

And this position doesn't require long theoretical lines, it is about understanding where your pieces go. Very different from a Grunfeld or King's Indian main line.

And soon we reach the first critical position of the game

Black to play

and here Carlsen managed to find the best move in the position

14..g5!

15fxg5 hxg5

Now you cannot take back with the Bishop 16 Bg5? Nxg3! with the pin on the h-file

So 16 Nxg5 is forced. Except that Carlsen saw 16..Nf4!

Let's bring the board after the full sequence 14..g5! 15fxg5 hxg5 16 Nxg5 Nf4! and it is quite possible Wesley So missed the last move in this variation

If white moves the queen, the knight on f4 captures on d3 and then the pawn on c4 falls.

So White took 17gxf4 but after Rxh4 18 Qf2 Rh8 19f5 0-0-0 ! Let's see the position

Position after 19...0-0-0!

it turns out the White king will soon be hunted as both the kingside and the queenside are wide open !

Now Wesley tried to reach an endgame, but first Black has the upper hand, second Magnus is very strong in this phase of the game, even if the position were to be near equal.

And the rest of the game was fairly easy for Carlsen after reaching a decisive advantage

What else ? 

I also expect players to check their analysis and variations with Stockfish14 or Stockfish14.1

And here's an engine game in the exact same variation. Stockfish14 vs Stockfish 10.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are you also expecting fireworks in Dubai ? Do you think Magnus Carlsen is the favorite and expected to defend his title once again ?