Openings to Crush Magnus

I pulled all of Magnus’ analyzed Chess.com games (via the nifty chess.com api)  from 2023 through 2024 to find which openings were his weakest based on accuracy and wins/losses. It took a while to parse because simply, he wins quite a bit to say the least. 

But if you find yourself confronting the GOAT at some point, use these openings to give yourself a snowball’s chance. Here’s the breakdown of some of his lowest accuracies with five or more games played with that opening.  

When you’re playing as white, you want to play the Van Geet Opening (1...Nc6-2.d4-d5 variation). Five wins out of nine for Carlson and a 79 percent average accuracy. 

The Queen's Pawn Opening: Chigorin Albert Defense (3.f3 variation) is also another good choice. Another 79 percent average accuracy for the champ and four wins out of eight for Carlson. 

If you get a rematch, crush him with the Mieses Opening (1...g6-2.g3-Bg7-3.Bg2 variation)  – an 80 percent average accuracy. Two wins out of six for him. 

Then adopt him with the English Opening: Anglo Indian King's Knight Variation. A pathetic 85 percent average accuracy. Two wins out of six. 

Now, what if you’re playing with the black pieces? 

I got you. 

The clear winner is Alekhine's Defense: Normal Variation (3.d4-d6-4.c4-Nb6 variation) Magnus has an 82 percent accuracy and of 11 games he only has five wins.

Here’s a variation to take him out. The Sicilian Defense: Nimzowitsch Advance Rubinstein Countergambit (...8.Qxd5-d6-9.exd6-Qb6 variation). He has an 85 percent accuracy and one win out of five games. 

Now, go take him down!

Note: Obviously, this is just for fun. There's more to the game than simply the opening.

@1

Yes, it is often better to play a bad opening well, that play a good opening badly.