Magnus Openings with Black : Blitz repertoire

CM thechesscorner64

Updated: Feb 26, 2024, 9:21 PM | 1

Magnus Carlsen. Playing Blitz on chess.com these days.

Rating ? His highest this year was 3377

Current Leaderboard on chess.com ? He is #1

not far behind is @Hikaru which I have posted several games and openings already.

Then Nihal Sarin, very strong in blitz and bullet, but behind over prodigies from India in Classical Chess: Gukesh,Pragg,Arjun Erigaisi have higher rating, its such a competitive landscape in India right now.

Then we have Hans Niemann,

then MVL.

So to maintain a high rating on chess.com is certainly not easy, as thousands of strong players log in each week , either to play the pool or official events ( Titled Tuesdays, Arena Kings).

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But what is Magnus choice when it comes to openings with Black ?

Well here's the list of the moves he played against 1.e4 with the most popular in the top line, then 2nd most popular,etc.

a little bit of everything with 1..c5 the sicilian as top choice. What about 1.d4 ?

again, various moves, with 1..d5 top choice and 1..Nf6 second most played move.

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so what kind of openings is Magnus selecting with Black ? like Hikaru Nakamura he doesnt always play his main classical repertoire. He is trying to

1) get a dynamic position with chances to win, going for a FIGHT !

2) try to get out of the main theory sooner than later. We don't see 20 moves of a known theory line you will find in Chessable. He tries to get fresh positions.

3) he goes for positions he feels the most comfortable. for Magnus, he tries to find harmony for his pieces. He is not going for quick opening trap with Black.

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Want to see a position against 1e4 in the sicilian ? Here's how Magnus played it

It's a sicilian dragon. but Magnus has played h7-h5 so the classical line Bh6 to exchange the bishop on g7 is not possible.

He also played ..a7-a6 instead of the normal Nc6. Wikipedia calls this the Dragodorf

Another option for Black is to play what has been called the "Dragodorf", which combines ideas from the Dragon with those of the Najdorf Variation. While this line may be played via the Dragon move order (see the Yugoslav Attack with 9.Bc4). Black can arrive at it with a Najdorf move order: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 g6 (or 5...g6 6.Be3 a6), with the idea of Bg7 and Nbd7

but Magnus can play this way as well

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so we have a Scandinavian

1e4 d5 2ed5 Qd5 3 Nc3

Typically Black will play 3..Qa5 or 3..Qd8, but 3..Qd6?! is the less known travelled path. and after 4 d4 Nf6 5Nf3 a6!? , the point is that Bc4 would be answered with b7-b5 attacking the bishop . so white usually plays 6g3 and 7Bg2, hardly a refutation of the opening

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by now you get the point. It is a pointless exercize to prepare against Magnus. He plays so many different systems

but what about 1.d4 and the London system ?

This is interesting because in the 1d4 d5 move order, Black hasn't played ..Nf6. So in his last move, Magnus plays f7-f6 (a move GM Finegold doesnt recommend) and wins against Fedoseev ( a very strong GM).

But there's more to it. the ECO system is B13 which means this opening is classified as exchanged caro kann.

Here's what a typical exchange caro kann move order would be

1e4 c6 2d4 d5 3cd5 ed5 4c3 Nc6 5 Bf4 f6

the point I am making here is that the exchange caro kann is not considered the most dangerous option for white. 1e4 c6 2d4 d5 3Nd2 or 3e5 are a better attempt for White.

And Magnus is very comfortable with the "carlsbad" pawn structure which is seen in the Queen's Gambit and the Caro Kann variations

https://www.chess.com/terms/carlsbad-pawn-structure-chess

I don't know about you, but the majority of London system games are after 1d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 with either d7-d5 or c7-c5 , and also with g7-g6.

So while we cannot say Magnus invents new systems, he can typically get out of the opening with compelling set-ups.

now one final example where white played 1.d4 Magnus answered 1..Nf6 and White played the London system 2 Bf4

How did Magnus managed that ?

This position is the definition of piece HARMONY.

Black has developed the bishops using the FIANCHETTO technique, and the bishops are on the long diagonals.

Black has played Re8 and supported the e7-e5 break in the center.

The Black King is safe and Black is looking to attack on the kingside

The entire game is instructive, I wish Magnus could play against a strong GM as I suspect he would still win with Black given his stats.

There's a strong logic in the opening set-up Magnus chooses and then of course he continues with strong accuracy in middlegame and he is the best in the endgame phase as we know.

While there's a lot of talk about chess960 and classical time controls , I still think that rapid and blitz with normal chess rules is far from dead.

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are there other players worth analyzing from a blitz repertoire (white or black) besides Magnus or Hikaru ?

Magnus Openings with Black : Blitz repertoire

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