Carlsen’s time trouble

IM Malcolm Pein October 18, 2023

MAGNUS Carlsen was crushed in just 31 moves in the second round of the Qatar Masters by 23-year-old Kazakh GM Alisher Suleymenov.
The world number one played lackadaisically in the opening and reached a Hedgehog-type position where his setup lacked the customary solidity.
After another imprecise move from Carlsen, Suleymenov opened up the game and was able to use his superior mobility to move pieces to the kingside and win with a lovely sacrificial attack.
It was a huge rating upset, the like of which has not been seen since Carlsen lost with white to Swiss GM Yannick Pelletier in 2015.
Afterwards, Carlsen published a somewhat intemperate tweet complaining about the lack of anti-cheating measures and in particular, that his opponent was wearing a watch, which he said affected his ability to concentrate.
Carlsen did make it absolutely clear that he was not accusing his opponent of cheating. In response, the organisers introduced a delay in transmission.

A Suleymenov – M Carlsen
Queen’s Indian

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Nf3 Nc6 10.b4 Be7
(10...Nd4 is much better and if 11.Nxd4 Bxd4 12.f3 Nh5! threatening Qh4+ or if 11.Qd2 Nxf3+ 12.gxf3 Be7 is solid)
11.Bb2 Qb8 12.Rd1 0–0 13.Be2 d6 14.0–0 Rc8 15.Rfe1 Bf8 16.Bf1 Ne7?
(Black would like to play 16...a6 but because his knight is on c6 and not d7, his bishop on b7 is impeded and b6 is weak, so 17.Na4 Nd7 18.e5! is disastrous for Black)
17.Nb5! Ne8 18.Ng5! Ng6
(If 18...h6 19.Nxf7!! Kxf7 20.e5! d5 21.Qh7! Rxc4 22.Be2! wins or 20...Kg8 21.exd6 Nf5 22.Qe2)
19.e5! d5 20.Qb3! (Coming to h3 attacking h7 and e6. Black’s major pieces are too far away)
20...Be7

21.Nxf7!! Kxf7 22.cxd5 Bxd5 23.Rxd5! exd5 24.Qxd5+ Kf8 25.Nd4 Nf4 (If 25...Nc7 26.Qf3+ Kg8 (26...Ke8 27.Bc4) 27.Nc6 Qb7 28.Nxe7+ Nxe7 29.Qxb7)
26.Qf3 Kg8 27.Qxf4 Qb7 28.Nf5 b5 (Desperately trying to prevent Bc4+. If 28...Kh8 29.Bd3 and 30.Be4)
29.Bxb5 Bf8 (If 29...Qxb5 30.Nxe7+ Kh8 31.Qf8#)
30.Bc4+ Kh8

31.e6 is crushing, but White finished in style. How?

Show Answer

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